Patch's Adventures in Puppy School
by PerkyGoth14
Summary: It's an exciting time of year when Patch is finally able to go to Puppy School with his friends. However, a class bully gets Patch into serious trouble which makes the Dalmatian puppy want to run away from his new home which gets him in even more trouble with the dogcatcher. However, when tossed into the pound, Patch makes some new friends who give him an offer he can't refuse.
1. Today's the Day

Today was the day. Patch was sleeping on Atticus's bed, curled up in a little ball, snoozing, but the alarm clock went off, waking up the puppy instantly.

"Atticus, wake up, today's the day!" Patch leaned over the sleeping Atticus, very excited about today.

"Okay, okay, Patch, I'm up, I'm up." Atticus yawned, while laughing, knowing of how excited Patch was and what today was.

Patch ran around on the floor, having a lot of energy. "Come on, let's goooo!"

"Okay, okay, Patch, I know that you're excited, but calm down." Atticus said as they began to make their way to breakfast.

Patch chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, Atticus..."

* * *

As soon as Patch came to the final step, his eyes widened as there was a camera flash.

Darla showed her face from behind the camera. "Got it!"

"Whoa! That came out of nowhere." Patch said, shaking his head.

"Sorry about that, Patch." Darla chuckled, gently petting the growing puppy.

"That's okay... Just warn me next time, okay?" Patch chuckled sheepishly.

"All right..." Darla chuckled, she then went to the couch, opening up her laptop and connected her camera up to it and uploaded the photo on a social media site for her friends to see online.

"Looks like someone's ready for his first day of puppy school." Jessica said.

"Yeah, how soon can we go!?" Patch was totally excited, his tail wagging stronger than normal.

"After breakfast." Jessica tried to relax the easily excited puppy.

"Yeah, after breakfast, we'll go and take you to puppy school." Atticus said to his excited puppy.

"Yay! Then let's go and eat breakfast so then I can go to school!" Patch cheered before running into the dining room.

Patrick and Emily chuckled.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile at the Brown house...**_

Lady had Jock and Trusty over to let them give some advice to Scamp, Angel, Colette, and Danielle about their new year at puppy school, they were just as excited as Patch was.

"Oh, this is so exciting." Scamp said, excitedly.

"I don't think I've been to a puppy school either," Angel was eager to try this with him. "But Mr. Itchy says that he went to one with my mother."

"Why, you all will do fine," Trusty smiled to them. "Did I ever tell ya what my old grandpappy O'l Reliable used to say?"

"Aye, ye have, laddy..." Jock rolled his eyes slightly. Not this again.

"Yes, you have, Uncle Trusty." All four pups said.

"Does he do this all the time?" Angel asked Jock.

"Aye, even with Lady before she and Tramp came together." the Scottish terrier replied in memory.

"Wow." Angel said.

"Do you think we'll see anyone we know in puppy school?" Colette asked aloud, allowing anyone who heard her question to answer.

Danielle was digging, proving she was the tomboy of the triplets. "I hope we get to chew on shoes or somethin'!" she laughed as she continued to dig in the yard.

"Well, I hope that Patch gets to be there." Colette said.

"He's supposed to," Lady said as she sat with her children and 'daughter-in-law'. "I heard that Darla spent all the money she earned from making movies just so he could get in."

"Yay!" Colette cheered, but then blushes and clears her voice. "I mean, that's great."

Everyone chuckled to her, but not in a bad way.

"Breakfast is ready, guys!" Mo came from the back door to call the dogs over.

"Oh, boy, I'm starved!" Danielle happily rushed over.

"Danielle Deborah Tramp, you patch up that hole right now!" Lady called to her tomboy daughter.

"Oops..." Danielle chuckled sheepishly, she then came back to put the hole back in place, patching it up. "Sorry, Mom..."

After patching up the hole, Danielle, Colette, Scamp and Angel came inside for breakfast. Mo had their food bowls all ready while James was reading his morning paper as always and Elizabeth was finishing making breakfast for the family. Junior was scribbling on a blank piece of paper with his tongue sticking out in concentration.

* * *

While the puppies were having their breakfast, the same would be said for the Fudo family as they all had breakfast together, Patch and Maisy were even by their owners' sides, eating together as if they were siblings. Only, Patch seemed to be eating fast, thinking that every minute that passed, he would be late.

"Patch, slow down!" Patrick warned the puppy as he got the bagels. "You don't wanna go to school with a tummy ache, do you?"

"No, but I don't wanna be late on my first day of school either," Patch said after swallowing. "I don't want to make a bad impression on my first day."

"You still have plenty of time until school actually starts." Emily tried to settle down the puppy.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just so excited," Patch said after finishing off his breakfast. "I'm gonna do some push-ups now."

And and that is what he did while having a 50 pound weight on his back, showing that he still had the special strength that Atticus was able to give him while still having his god strength. He then gets up from his push-ups, but still excited about his first day of school and hoped that everything would be alright. But what he didn't know was that this first day of school of his would be filled with some adventure.

"Patch, do you think maybe you could tone down your strength a little?" Emily advised. "I don't want the other puppies to get discouraged."

"Oh... Okay..." Patch agreed, hoping he might be able to do that.

"Well, I'm sure that they would become friends with Patch whether he had god-like strength or not," Atticus said. "Or so I hope."

"That's true, but I don't want some puppies to feel bad if they're not as strong as Patch in some activities." Emily said with a kindly smile as always.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mo was in her bed, fast asleep, but her puppy kept tugging on her.

"Angel, stop it..." Mo said, laughing in her sleep.

"Come on, Mo, wake up, today's the day, today's the day, today's the day!" Angel cheered.

Mo then got out of bed, automatically knowing of what Angel meant and just knew that she was excited to get started.

* * *

James and Elizabeth had breakfast together as the woman of the house served her husband and filled her son and daughter's plates.

"Morning, Mom and Dad..." Mo said to her adoptive parents after she came down to eat before they'd get to Puppy School.

"Good morning, Monique." the couple told their adoptive daughter.

Lady and Tramp smiled to their children, but noticed one missing.

Lady sighed. "Scamp! Get over here, you don't wanna be late for school, do you?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Scamp said, coming in ready to eat breakfast.

Elizabeth set down food bowls for the family.

Angel smirked to the other puppies, then went to join Scamp. "Mornin', tenderfoot."

"Morning, beautiful." Scamp smirked back.

Angel then ate her food, just loving it and not having to look for food everyday anymore. Scamp happily joined her. Lady smiled, she hoped the kids would enjoy their day at school, she had always did when she was a puppy herself.

"I hope the kids will have a great day at school with Patch." Tramp said.

"Oh, I'm sure their going to have a wonderful day." Lady smiled.


	2. First Day of School

After breakfast, the puppies went off and Mo decided to walk them since Atticus was going to walk Patch. There came other puppies who seemed to be from all sorts of breeds and colors of the rainbow. There was a border collie walking with them to take them there.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Patch cheered.

"I can understand that you're excited about your first day of school, Patch, but just remember to control your strength, you don't wanna scare the other puppies or make them feel horrible about themselves for not being as strong as you." Atticus reminded his Dalmatian pup.

"You're right, I don't wanna make a bad impression on my first day." Patch said, calming down, even if this was his first day of school.

Mo had her hands in her jacket pocket as she walked her puppies over to the school. "Remember, if someone bullies you, try not to take too much offense to it... Don't let anyone control you into peer pressure... And remember, if you want friends, you should be true to yourselves."

"Mo, stop it, you sound like your mother." Angel chuckled at Mo's mannerisms.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little nervous for your first day and all..." Mo smiled sheepishly.

"Don't worry, Mo, we'll be with her." Scamp assured.

"He's right..." Danielle agreed, out of all her sisters, she looked up to Scamp the most and was more of a tomboy than her prim and proper sisters.

Mo sighed. "My little Angel is growing up..."

* * *

"Dears, it's going to be okay," the collie cooed her puppies. "You'll make lots of new friends in school."

"We know... It's just... We really miss Uncle Charlie..." the pink puppy with a bow on her head said.

The other puppies murmured in agreement.

The collie sighed. "I understand, but don't worry... He wouldn't want you all sad."

All of the puppies agreed with the collie.

"Is everything okay?" Mo asked the collie.

"Oh, my puppies are just sad because we had some rather heartbreaking news..." the collie sighed.

"I'm so sorry..." Mo coaxed.

"What happened?" Atticus asked once he came up.

The collie hung her head, she decided to distract her puppies by meeting the other puppies briefly so she could talk about this without making them cry even more. "My dear friend... Almost like a brother to me... He drowned to death saving a little human girl's life..."

"It was very generous of him though..." the collie said softly. She then looked and smiled as she saw her puppies were already becoming friends with Patch and the others.

"You have a lot of puppies, Miss." Mo remarked.

"Thank you, but they aren't mine..." the collie said with a sad smile, but not as sad about Charlie.

"Oh my, so, are they all orphans?" Atticus asked.

"Indeed..." the collie sighed. "Somebody came to the church door in a box and the puppies were abandoned... I kind of am their mother, but I know that I am not."

* * *

This was a great start of the first day of school. They all then heard the school bell ring, telling them all one thing, it was time for all of the pups to go inside for learning. They all went into a backyard and gathered together.

Itchy the Dauschand came out with a smile. "Hello boys and girls! I am Mr. Itchy, your puppy school instructor while Anne-Marie is in school!"

"Hello, Mr. Itchy!" the puppies greeted back.

"Now, before we begin, you must know how important it is to become well-trained puppies and not so playful all the time," Itchy circled them like a real teacher, looking sharp and serious. "Yes, it is fun to play, but you must know your humans expect the best out of you... No messing up the carpet, no eating their homework, and knowing when they will be sometimes a little too busy for ya! Now, are you new dogs ready to learn some old tricks?"

"Yes, Mr. Itchy!" The puppies said.

"All right... Our first lesson is burying the bone..." Itchy told them, he then went inside the doggy door briefly, then came out with a big chew toy bone for himslef with smaller ones for the puppies to use. "Now, a key thing to being a dog is to bury any bones you find, that way, someone else doesn't take it from ya!" he then dug up the ground a little bit, placed the bone in and buried it, patting it so no one would notice that part of the ground had been buried to hide his bone. "Now you all try."

"Oh boy, I love digging!" Scamp was excited once he started with Angel.

"This should be fun to do." Patch said, starting to dig with Colette.

Colette giggled as they worked together.

"That's right, pups, work with your partner," Itchy smiled as he watched the puppies in pairs as they were digging for their bones together. "Really get down in there, become one with the soil!" he advised with a laugh.

The pink puppy with a bow put her bone in while the fat yellowish one landed onto the ground to cover it.

"No, no, no, you should really bury it on top, so no one knows you're hiding your bone from them, finders keepers, you know." Itchy advised.

"Oh, right, sorry, Mr. Itchy, I'll remember that." The pink puppy said, fixing her mistake.

Itchy smiled as he checked on the others. "Oh, wonderful digging, Patch!"

Patch smiled as he dug, then stood next to Colette as she put the bone in.

Danielle was really getting into the digging as she was with her partner, Copper.

"Oh, such a high class puppy is not afraid to get down and dirty." Itchy chuckled to the female cocker spaniel.

"YEAH!" Danielle grinned, she was really more of a down and dirty dog than her sisters were.

"Yeah, you sure aren't afraid to get dirty one little bit." Copper said.

Danielle chuckled to Copper. Itchy smiled and waited for them all to finish.

"I never knew how much fun digging was." Colette said.

"Me neither." Patch agreed.

Itchy smiled at their effort. "Very good, very good..." he then sat on his hind legs. "Now, we all know that everybody has a different scent... That's how we all know each other, right?"

"Right!" the puppies replied.

"Now, why don't we all get to know each other better, huh?" Itchy suggested. "As you know, my name is Itchy, I have a bad case of fleas that I've had since I was a pup myself, but it's been better since Anne-Marie adopted me... Nice girl, I really miss her when she goes to school..." he sighed a little, but kept talking with his students. "And I hope you all learn a lot from these classes to become professional full grown dogs! Why don't we have a little chat and we'll break for treats?"

"Yeah!" The puppies cheered, liking the word treats.

Itchy chuckled. "Why don't we all get acquainted?"

* * *

The puppies all grouped together, deciding to meet and greet each other.

"Uh... My name's Copper..." the basset hound/bloodhound mix breed pup introduced. "I don't remember much about my folks since Mr. Slade adopted me and introduced me to Chief... He's kinda like a dad to me."

"That's nice, my name is Danielle." The cocker spaniel introduced.

"Colette." the cocker spaniel with the red collar added.

"Angel." the former junkyard puppy replied with a smile.

"Scamp!" the schnauzer cocker spaniel mix added. "Colette and Danielle are my sisters!"

The orphan puppies gave their names that seemed to be from the colors of the rainbow.

"I'm Patch," the Dalmatian puppy said proudly. "I'm one of the 101 Dalmatians!"

"Of course you would be..." a spoiled Afghan hound with a pink bow and black and white ears walked over, seeming to be running a little late. "I've heard so much about you."

"What have you heard?" Patch asked, not knowing that his adventure in London would reach dogs as well.

"My pet Cruella tried to kidnap you all," the snooty Afghan hound glared at him. "Your brothers and sisters keep trying to now keep her from taking Roger and Anita's barn!"

Patch was a little worried now. "Cruella deVil owns you!?"

"Yes," the Afghan hound looked pompous again. "I don't see what's so special about you Dalmatians... I mean, you just have spots, that's it!"

"She was wanted to make me and brothers and sisters and into a coat after she would kill us!" Patch told her.

"Should've let it happen... You're all pathetic, especially that chicken who wnats to be one of you." the hound scoffed.

"Yeah, who are you?" Colette growled protectively of Patch.

"Vendella deVil at your service..." the hound smirked. "Don't you just love that name 'Vendella'? Much better than 'Licky, Roy, A Pig, or Spit'." she then said, mocking Lucky, Rolly, Cadpig, and Spot.

"First, your name isn't that impressive, secondly, their names are Lucky, Rolly, Cadpig, and Spot!" Patch growled at the evil puppy.

"Typical jealousy of a real dog star..." Vendella smirked boastfully.

The other puppies growled to Vendella, but she looked like she didn't care. Patch truly wanted to scare this evil puppy for thinking she was better then everyone. He really wanted to use his god-like strength to scare her, but he also had a second thought that if he did use his god-like strength, he might scare the others as well. Colette seemed to know what he was thinking and put her paw on his tail, shaking her head. Patch sighed as he restrained himself, but glared at the devilish puppy.

"Puppy School, huh?" Vendella chuckled. "And just how many of you been on the cover of a magazine?"

The other puppies looked to her and looked down as they were bullied. None of them were famous like her.

"That's what I thought." Vendella smirked.

"Patch has been in the newspaper a couple of times with Thunderbolt!" Scamp spoke up.

"Yeah well, that's old news now... I'm a fashion dog and people love fashion show dogs." Vendella smirked evilly, living up to the name that was a female dog.

 _'This pup better stop talking before I lose it!'_ Patch thought while growling at the so-called famous puppy.

* * *

Itchy came back out with the treats. "Hello, puppies... Are we playing nice?"

"Yes sir~..." Vendella smiled and batted her thick eyelashes.

"Good," Itchy chuckled, not knowing she was bad like the others yet. "It's treat time, boys and girls!"

"Oh, boy, I'm starving!" the fat yellow puppy rushed over to the treat bag Itchy brought for them.

"Yay! Treats!" The puppies cheered as they made their way over to Itchy as he brought out the treats.

"Now, I want you all to tell me what you learned today." Itchy told the puppies before giving the treats away.

"You're really handsome, sir~" Vendella charmed Itchy.

Itchy blinked. "Very good," he laughed. "And here's your treat."

Vendella took the treat with a smile.

"That's nothing she learned, she's bribing the teacher!" Angel snarled.

"She can't get away with that." Danielle also snarled.

Itchy asked the other puppies about what they learned today before letting them have their treats. Soon, every puppy had a treat and they all went to a corner to have their treats.

"After you all eat, we'll go for a walk." Itchy smiled to them.

All of the puppies were excited about getting a walk, so they decided to finish their treats as fast as possible. Vendella ate her treat with grace and wasn't as noisy or messy with her eating as the others. She kept trying to make herself look like the perfect puppy, even if it included being a literal teacher's pet.

* * *

Patch glared at Vendella as he snacked with Colette. "How about I send her to the moon?"

"Patch, no." Colette firmly told him.

"Can I at least cause just a little earthquake to scare her?" Patch asked.

Colette sighed. "Very well... But be careful."

Patch smirked and made his tail wag on the ground, making the ground shake a little. Unfortunately, it went a little stronger than he thought and it made all cracks in the ground and the other puppies yelled. Vendella was scared alright, but it worried the others.

"EARTH SHAKE!" the pink puppy yelped.

"We gotta get out of here!" Copper added in worry.

"Uh-oh, I didn't mean for this to happen," Patch said before his tail stopped wagging, causing for the earthquake to stop. "Whew."

"Are you all okay?" Itchy asked the puppies.

"Whoa... What was that?" Scamp asked.

Danielle panted, a little frightened and shook up a little. "That was kinda scary..."

"Sorry everybody." Patch frowned.

"Why are you sorry?" Itchy looked at him. "You didn't cause that earthquake... Did you?"

"Um, *laughs nervously* I kind of did, because you see, I have the strength of Hercules." Patch said nervously, leaving out that Atticus also had the same strength, not wanting to get him in trouble with the dogs.

Itchy glanced at him. "Oh yeah? Well... Keep it under control next time, okay? You really gave us a scare!"

"Yes sir..." Patch nodded to his teacher.

"All right, everybody, let's go for that walk now," Itchy instructed, going inside while the puppies waited on the sidewalk. "Everybody pick a partner!"

Colette went with Patch, the two orphan puppies went together, Angel and Scamp went together, Copper went with Danielle, and Vendella was alone, so maybe she could walk with Itchy.


	3. School Bully

This was not going to be the greatest day for any of the pups as Vendella was just going to keep being a bully to them all while Itchy wasn't looking or wasn't there.

"It'd be a real shame if you were kicked out of school for your powers, Patch," Vendella mocked the Dalmatian puppy. "Too bad you're not special and you're just not one of a kind."

"Yes I am!" Patch glared at her.

"You're just one of 101, who could pick you out of a crowd?" Vendella smirked evilly. "You're better off being a face in the crowd and no one will even know who you are... Luckily I'm an only child... Unlike most of you..." she glanced to Colette, Danielle, and Scamp when she said that. "And just a ragamuffin junkyard dog." she added to Angel.

Patch really, really, really wanted to hurt this evil puppy now more than ever.

Itchy came out with Kate as she had him on a leash. "Alright everybody, follow me!" he called to the students of his.

Kate walked Itchy down the block with the puppies following.

 _'Oh, I so want to make her pay for what she said to me and Angel, but I can't use my god-like strength again or else I might get kicked out.'_ Patch thought while they were all following Itchy and Kate.

* * *

Itchy stopped when Kate would and this made the puppies copy him. Once they could move again, Kate moved first with Itchy and the puppies followed suit. It was a little bit of a long walk as the others were anxious about where they were going. Kate took them to a dog park and sat on a bench, taking a book out of her purse as she set Itchy's leash down and unhooked it from his collar and she read her book in silence.

"Okay, recess!" Itchy called to the puppies.

This caused for all of the puppies to cheer, happy that it was a time for them all to play.

Itchy smiled as he got some rest under the bench Kate was sitting on while the puppies spread out and played together. "Stay together!" he called to them so they wouldn't get lost or separated.

"Yes, Mr. Itchy." The puppies said before going off to play.

Itchy smiled as he yawned and took a nap under the bench until Kate would be ready to leave.

Danielle tugged on Colette's ear and pulled on her.

"Hey, cut it out!" Colette giggled.

Danielle shook her head. "Not unless ya play with me!" she said, slightly muffled.

Colette shook her head, making Danielle fall and the two playfully wrestled each other. Patch began to look around, wondering who he could play with.

"Hey Patch," Angel called as she scratched herself briefly. "You wanna do a play adventure with us?"

"Play adventure?" Patch asked.

"Yeah, you get to go on all sorts of adventure, why don't we make one up ourselves?" Scamp suggested.

"Hmmm... Okay... What should it be?" Patch asked them with a smile.

"It can be anything you want it to be." Angel said.

Patch shrugged, a little undecided. "Um, how about puppies living in the pound?"

"Pound Puppies!" Scamp and Angel then called.

* * *

They all started to play and have fun, much to Vendella's annoyance. "I've gotta ruin their fun, but how?" she asked herself and then remembered about the earthquake incident and had an evil plan to not only let Patch god-like strength ruin everyone's fun and also possibly get him kicked out of school.

The other puppies played as Itchy was sleeping soundly, unaware of anything else around him. Especially with an evil plan made by an evil puppy and where her target was playing with Angel and Scamp, she was going to get him to use his god-like strength one way or another.

"Heeey Patch~..."

"What do you want now, Vendella?" Patch glared at the Afghan hound.

"I bet you can't lift that firetruck back there!" Vendella smirked as she gestured to a parked firetruck in the firehouse.

"I can..." Patch narrowed his eyes at her.

"Prove it!"

"Patch, no!" Colette cried, worried about this.

But it was too late, Patch was off to prove that he could lift up the firetruck just to keep Vendella quiet, hopefully.

Vendella chuckled as she came closer to the scene. "Bet you can't throw it far away!"

"You're on, sister!" Patch retorted as he did just that.

The firetruck was flying in the air and it had crashed against an apartment building and there were screams of terror.

"Oh, no..." Patch cried. He then ran to the scene, very worried.

"Mr. Itchy..." Copper tried to wake up the older dog.

"What is it, kid?" Itchy muttered as he was trying to get some shut-eye.

"Patch threw a truck at a building." Copper said to him.

" **WHAT!?** " Itchy shot up, accidentally hitting his head against the bench.

"You tricked me into doing that." Patch growled at Vendella, catching on why she wanted him to do that.

Vendella laughed as fire and smoke rose from downtown to fit her devilish theme. Patch growled, he broke his promsie and tackled Vendella, starting to wrestle her and beat her up.

"PATCH!" Itchy yelled, rushing right over. " **STOP THAT!** "

Patch widened his eyes, knowing that he was in trouble now and got off Vendella. Vendella was in true pain right now, but to her, it was worth it.

"Patch, I'm very disappointed in you..." Itchy looked firmly to the Dalmatian puppy.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I won't do it again!" Patch cried.

"Maybe you should go home..."

"No, I'll be good! I wanna come to school, I studied... I just wanna come to school... I practiced..."

Itchy looked firm and pointed down the block. "I think you should go home now."

This was truly a horrible day for Patch, especially on his first day of school as he looked at all the puppies that he was hoping to become friends with. Patch frowned, he bowed his head and walked down the block to the Fudo house as the other puppies pouted and whimpered to him. Itchy went to check to see if Vendella was okay and took her over to Kate.

"Oh, you poor dear..." Kate picked up Vendella. "Here... Let me fix you up..." she took a First Aid Kit out of her purse and started to soothe the Afghan hound puppy.

Vendella looked sad to her, but smirked evilly as Patch was leaving sadly.

* * *

Patch was walking back to the Fudo house but stopped as soon as he thought about how proud and happy the Fudo's were for him, how could he face them now that he had just gotten kicked out?

' _I can't go back and disappoint them and even if it hurts them I have to do this so I don't come back at all as a failure,_ " he thought as he got his collar off his neck. ' _I'm sorry, Atticus, this is goodbye until we meet again._ '

Patch then ran off sad about what he did but couldn't face the Fudos after getting kicked out and was now on his own. It was very sad and lonely for Patch now as he wandered the streets all alone. He wasn't sure where he could go, but anywhere had to be better than here. Too bad Pongo and Perdita couldn't be here to comfort him. Not even Amber, since it was a school and work day for humans too.

Patch walked through until he could find a place to call his own, the junkyard would be trouble based on what Scamp and Angel had told him, so he avoided that. He wasn't technically an orphan, so he couldn't stay with Flo the border collie. Where could he go? He finally found an answer as he looked up and saw an animal shelter called SHELTER 17. But as he was about to go and find someone who knew where SHELTER 17 was he was caught by the dog-catcher. What Patch didn't know was that this dog-catcher was going to be taking him to where he was wanting to go.

"No collar and no owner equals a pound puppy!" the dogcatcher taunted as he went to throw Patch with the other dogs.

Patch felt just like a criminal, it didn't help that he was going to be thrown with a bunch of other dogs and maybe even cats in cages.

"Looks like you all are headed to shelter 17." The dog-catcher said before closing the door and then locking it and then goes to front of the vehicle to drive Patch and the other dogs to SHELTER 17.

* * *

Patch whimpered as the dogcatcher locked up the doors and took them away to the shelter. He looked away from the other dogs, curled up into a ball and started to cry a little.

"Hey kid, you alright?" A male border collie asked.

Patch sniffled and looked up to them. "I guess... I just got kicked out of puppy school..."

The other dogs voiced concern for him.

"That's rough, honey," the female poodle soothed. "How could they get rid of something cute and adorable like you, huh?"

"Yeah, they must have been really cruel to kick out a nice kid such as you," A male wiener dog said and then noticed that Patch didn't have a collar. "Wait, if you were kicked out of school, then where's your collar?"

"Um, I-I'd rather not talk about it." Patch said before turning away.

The other dogs were a little worried about him, but respected his space and privacy. Hopefully things will get better for them.


	4. Shelter 17

The truck stopped after what felt like an eternity and they were all let go. The human men were talking and looked to Patch before they let him go. There was an older male dog who had a red studded collar and was taking a nap as another day went by and he hadn't been adopted.

"Oh, put him in with that mutt," The owner of the shelter said pointing to the older male dog. "He's not been adopted, he can keep the pup company while you take those other dogs to one of the other shelters."

The dog-catcher gave Patch to a fat man that worked at the shelter, his name was Olaf. He then brought Patch over to the older male dog. Patch sighed as he tried to get comfortable and he felt very miserable. This had to be the worst day of his life.

* * *

"Hey kid," the older dog seemed awake now and greeted him. "Feeling a little down in the muzzle?"

"*Sighs* You don't know the half of it," Patch said. "This day has just not been the happiest day for me."

"Ah, it's not so bad," the older dog coaxed. "Welcome to Shelter 17 though, the best pet shelter there is. They call me Lucky by the way, on account of my great good fortune."

"I have a brother named Lucky..." Patch said. "Amber named him that because he almost died at birth, but her uncle revived him... He also has a horse shoe spot on his back..."

"Well, your brother sounds like the adventurous one," Lucky chuckled. "And what do they call you?"

"M-My name is Patch," the Dalmatian puppy said, hoping that the word hadn't been spread about what happened and lucky for him, the news of what happened hadn't been spread to the dogs and hopefully not to any of the other animals. "And by the way, what makes this pet shelter the best? It looks exactly like every other pet shelter." he said, looking around to see if he could find the reason why this shelter was said to be the best.

"That's 'cuz you're only seeing it from the topside." Lucky informed him.

Patch looked curious. "Topside?" he asked. "Um... What's the other side then?"

"Funny you should ask..." Lucky said before giving a whistle to the other dogs in the shelter.

They other dogs tugged on certain things to make it look like they were there while they were going down secret passageways, unbeknownst to the humans.

"What on Earth!?" Patch flipped out.

"After you." Lucky gestured his paw to a hole in the ground.

"Um, okay." Patch said before looking down the hole to see where it would lead and then jumped down the hole.

* * *

When Patch ended up underground, he saw various dogs together and looking actually happy to be living in the pound. There were boxes filled with baseballs, sticks, fire hydrants, and bones.

Lucky came down and decided to show Patch around. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"You got that right," Patch said, amazed with how everything looked. He then noticed there was a dog with a headset, then looked back up to the older dog. "You guys can talk to humans too?"

"Well, only when they don't know it," Lucky replied. "And only when absolutely necessary."

"Wait, you're the Pound Puppies! I thought you guys were just a legend." Patch said out of amazement, which meant that he was at where he was going anyways.

"Oh, no, we're real all right," Lucky assured him with a smile. "If a dog needs a home, we're the guys to find him one... No matter how much the humans mess things up."

Patch smiled and went to follow this dog, feeling a fatherly bond with him, but accidentally ran into a female boxer, who made him fall back down. "Oh... I-I'm so sorry... Excuse me."

"What are you doing down there, mutt!?" the boxer snarled at him. "Don't you know this is a command center? No unauthorized dogs without proper identifi-"

"Down, Cookie," Lucky tamed the savage beast for the new puppy. "He's a new guy... A stray."

"A stray? Oh, I'm sorry, pumpkin, I didn't know, I'm Cookie, listen if anyone gives you any trouble, I'll chew them out." Cookie said to Patch.

"Oh, you don't have to yell at anybody for me, but I'll keep it in mind though." Patch said.

"No, I mean literally chew them out with my teeth." Cookie said before showing her teeth.

"Um, th-thanks I guess." Patch said, smiling a little scared.

"Oh, no trouble at all," Cookie gave a soothing smile. "Okay, I'm outta here, Luck. I gotta walk my human."

Patch rushed over to her. "You have a human?" that turn of phrase reminded him of how his father often called Roger his pet instead of the other way around.

"Of course I do!" Cookie smiled to him. "Half the dogs here got homes on the outside."

"Wow..."

"And remember... With... My... Teeth..." Cookie bore her teeth to him, but went off then.

"Oh, boy, she's tough." Patch said as the female boxer left.

"Yeah, and that's when she's in a good mood." Lucky chuckled.

"Lucky, Lucky, Lucky, I got something important to tell you really really important." A big sheep dog said, coming over to Lucky and Patch.

"Patch meet Niblet." Lucky said, introducing him to the big sheepdog.

"Oh, hi Patch!" Niblet greeted with an overly friendly smile. "Welcome to our secret headquarters, secret, but fun!"

"So Niblet, what's so important?" Lucky asked the sheepdog.

"Um..." Niblet tried to think, but had a smile. "I forgot." He then walked off to do something else.

"Good guy that Niblet, but let him bury your bone and you'll never see it again." Lucky informed the Dalmatian puppy.

"Noted." Patch replied.

"No, no, no, you're doing it all wrong!" a Dauschand with a pink collar called.

"You better meet Strudel," Lucky told the puppy as they walked off together. "Probably the smartest weiner dog the world's ever seen."

"You've got the diode connected to the transmuter, and the transmuter connected to the LED!" Strudel scolded. "Didn't anybody look at the schematic?"

The squirrels began to speak in squirrel language while pointing to each other and to the machine.

"Oh, I wish I had opposable thumbs!"Strudel cried.

But then a squirrel with a hat that looked like an acorn began to tell the Dauschand, while smiling, after the machine made a ding sound.

"What, Mr. Nut-Nut?" Strudel looked happy now and felt successful. "You've got it working? Oh, finally, my work of staggering genius is complete! Let's give it a shot!" she rushed over to the machine with the squirrels.

One squirrel put an aviator helmet on her head.

"Ready on the right!" Strudel called. "And... Tap!"

The squirrels pushed the buttons and did as they were instructed to for the ingenious canine. The machine began to work as it began to scratch Strudel's back.

"Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Ohhh, that's the spot." Strudel said.

"Amazing, an automatic back scratchers." Patch said, amazed by the machine that the Dauschand and her squirrel assistants built.

"Hey, pally!" a voice called.

"Huh?" Patch looked around. "Who said that?"

"Down here..." there was a Chihuahua that seemed even smaller than Patch himself. "Could I interest you in a rubber ball or a squeaky toy? You got the kibble, I got the goods."

"You wanna watch out for Squirt here," Lucky advised Patch. "He's the best scourger in the business, but there's always a price."

"Hey, I ain't out this for my health, you know, besides I've got some info on what happened at the park during puppy school." Squirt said.

 _'Oh, no, the word must have been spread out already. No, no, just stay calm, Patch, I'm sure that this information he got is something else.'_ Patch thought, calming himself down.

"Puppy School, huh?" Lucky asked.

"Um, how do you know?" Patch asked, shaking a little.

"I'm in charge of surveillance." Squirt explained.

"You... You are?" Patch asked, shaking a little more.

"Yeah and man, you won't believe what happened, Lucky." Squirt informed him.

"You'll meet the rest later," Lucky told Patch. "What happened, Squirt?" he then asked the Chihuahua.

"Come with me!" Squirt led them to the security camera room of the pound.

 _'Oh no, this is bad, I didn't know they had security cameras too,'_ Patch thought, worried. _'I have to do something before they find out.'_

* * *

Meanwhile, Atticus and Darla got home from school just then.

"Patch, we're home!" Darla called as she set her backpack down by the kitchen table as she held a bag in her hand with a party hat on her head. "That Timothy kid had a birthday party and I got you some treats!"

But to their surprise, Patch didn't come to get the treats.

"Huh? Strange... Patch wouldn't want to miss out on treats." Atticus said.

"Patch, where are you?" Darla looked around.

* * *

Maisy was asleep on the couch.

"Maisy, have you seen Patch?" Atticus asked the cat.

Maisy woke up with a yawn and stretch. "Isn't he in Puppy School?"

"He should've been back by now." Darla replied.

"Something's wrong, we've got to go to puppy school." Atticus said, worried about the Dalmatian puppy.

"Come on then," Darla said, taking off her hat and gave the treats to Maisy. "Wanna come?"

"I was just having a nice dream about fish..." Maisy chuckled as she nibbled on the treats she could eat.

Darla rolled her eyes slightly.

"Maisy, aren't you worried for Patch?" Atticus said, feeling worried for Patch. "He could be in danger!"

"I'm joking... I'm joking..." Maisy replied.

"This is no time for jokes..." Darla looked firm with her cat.

"Sorry..." Maisy leaped down and walked their way. "Let's go then."

"First, we go to the Bluth house." Darla said, that was where the Puppy School was after all.

* * *

Anne-Marie was in her family backyard, playing with her baby sister and then came a knocking at the door.

"I'll get it!" Kate called, going to open the door.

Darla and Atticus were there.

"Oh, hello..." Kate smiled to them. "Would you like to play with Anne-Marie?"

"No thank you, ma'am, we're looking for Patch." Darla informed.

Kate paused to think a moment to figure out which puppy that one was. "Which one was Patch?"

"He's a Dalmatian, he's got a red collar, oh, and he's got a black spot on his right eye." Atticus described every detail of the Dalmatian puppy except for one thing, the god-like strength.

"Oh, right..." Kate smiled. "He's probably in the backyard with the others."

"Thank you!" Darla said to one of her friends' mother.


	5. Where's Patch?

They went to the backyard as Anne-Marie kept playing with little Charlotte.

"Anne-Marie, have you seen Patch?" Darla asked.

"I thought he was home with you guys." Anne-Marie said as she bounced her baby sister gently.

"No, he isn't," Atticus said, worriedly. "This isn't good, he's not at home and he's not here, where could he be?"

"I'm not sure..." Anne-Marie shrugged.

Itchy came to the backyard. "What seems to be going on here?"

"Itchy, did something happen at school?" Anne-Marie asked her new pet. "Atticus and Darla say Patch isn't home."

Itchy tried to think. "I told him to go home though."

"But if that's true, then why didn't he go home?" Atticus asked Itchy, trying to find out what happened. "Did anything happen at puppy school?"

"Actually yes..." Itchy reported. "We did burying the bone lessons, then I gave them a treat, and when it was time for Kate to walk me, I decided we should all have recess... Then Patch was wrestling an innocent puppy and he threw a firetruck against an apartment building and made the people crash down with it."

"That doesn't sound like Patch..." Darla was shocked. "Are you sure?"

"I swear, I'd seen it with my own eyes!" Itchy exclaimed.

"Okay, can you tell exactly of each of the owners of each of the puppies?" Atticus asked Itchy.

"What do you mean?" Itchy asked.

"Please, can you please tell us the names of each of the puppies' owners or at least tell us the names of the puppies that were in your class?" Atticus asked.

"Oh, right, sorry," Itchy chuckled, now understanding what he meant by that. "Let's see... Copper belongs to Amos Slade, Angel, Scamp, and those twins were with Jim Dear and Darling, there were two orphaned puppies who's raised by Flo who lives in an abandoned church that she's turned into a puppy orphanage, and... There was this other puppy with an interesting name... I didn't see who came to pick her up..."

"Do you remember her name?" Darla asked.

"I think it was Vendetta or Viola or something like that..." Itchy tried to remember.

"Her name was Vendella," Colette said, coming from the fence. "And she belongs to Cruella deVil."

"That was it." Itchy smiled now that he knew the name.

"Cruella!" Darla and Atticus gasped.

"The puppy that was wrestling, was it that puppy?" Atticus asked, referring to Vendella.

"I believe so..." Itchy frowned. "Poor puppy had to be given First Aid.

"Poor puppy!?" Darla snarled, she then now wondered. "Wait, when did Cruella get her own dog?"

"I heard just so she could get on the cover of a magazine." Colette spoke up, unsure herself.

"If that puppy belongs to Cruella, then you shouldn't feel sorry for her." Atticus said.

"Your puppy was wrestling a weaker puppy..." Itchy shook his head. "I don't take kindly to that, I'm afraid."

"It's a long story... Look, I'm sure Patch is sorry, but you didn't need to kick him out of school!" Darla cried.

"I didn't wanna do it, but he was hurting another puppy," Itchy said softly. "That Vendella puppy might be bad, but he must learn to play nicely with others."

"But he does play nicely! And besides, Vendella was nothing but a bully to me and other pups while you weren't looking or while you weren't around!" Colette yelled. "And besides, she tricked Patch into throwing that firetruck and made him angry, he didn't want to hurt her, he really didn't, but she was asking for it!"

Itchy now saw how it was the evil pup's fault. "I know... But he should learn not to fight a fellow student..." he said, remaining his teacher role.

"We'll make sure he doesn't again," Atticus promised, then sighed. "Do you know where he might be right now?"

"I'm sorry, but I only told him to go home... If he's not there, I don't know where he could be." Itchy replied apologetically.

"This is terrible, who knows where he is right now, I just hope he's okay." Atticus said.


	6. Moment of Truth

Patch was okay but he was worried, but didn't show as they were getting closer to the security room. Squirt got the controls set to show Lucky and Patch what was detected by the local Puppy School.

 _'Please don't show the face, please don't show the face, please don't show the face.'_ Patch thought.

Squirt and Lucky were about to find out who caused the destruction, but a red alarm buzzed and blared, taking their attention.

"Red alert!" Lucky called. "Everybody up, up, up!"

'Whew, that was close.' Patch thought in relief.

Lucky sorted all the other dogs to get them up as the alarm blared.

"What's going on, Lucky?" Patch asked.

"Humans are coming to visit the shelter to adopt pets," Lucky told him with a wise smile. "You can either come up or stay down here, whichever's better for you."

'If I go up there I might be spotted, better stay down here.' Patch thought. "I'll stay down here, Lucky." he then said.

"Okay, stay safe... I gotta go." Lucky advised before he went up with the others.

"Whew, don't want to get adopted by someone," Patch said. "And that was a close one, if that alarm hadn't gone off, they might have found out."

* * *

Cherry was outside for a change as Atticus and Darla walked down the street with Maisy.

"Patch! Patch! Where are you?!" Atticus called out before seeing his friend. "Cherry, have you seen Patch?"

"Hm?" Cherry looked up from her book.

"Patch is missing, he was kicked out of Puppy School, have you seen him?" Maisy brought her up to speed.

"I don't think so..." Cherry shrugged. "I doubt he'd run away from home."

"But he didn't return home and we've been looking almost everywhere." Atticus said, worriedly.

"Hmm..." Cherry frowned. "That doesn't sound like Patch..."

"Do you think you could help us look for him?" Darla asked.

"Not sure... Let me check my schedule..." Cherry took out her iPhone and scrolled through it.

Darla and Atticus sulked, they knew that Cherry would have nothing to do and would just rather stay home all day, being alone.

Cherry looked that they were actually sad and worried, then closed her book and put her phone in her pocket. "Well... I might as well go."

"Thank you, Cherry!" Atticus and Darla cheered.

"He couldn't have gone far..." Cherry said as she walked off with them.

"Oh, I hope the little guy's okay where he is..." Darla sighed.

"Yeah, same here." Maisey said.

"Wherever he is, I hope he's safe." Atticus said.

Cherry joined them in their quest to find Patch and hopefully bring him back home. Darla picked up Maisy and held her tight, she didn't even want to think of what would happen if the cat had run away from home.

* * *

Patch was now beginning to worry as he saw that the video footage of the park showed what happened. Luckily for him, no one else was in the room with him so he decided to shut off the screen and then to go up to meet up with Lucky and hopefully there wouldn't be any humans around. What Patch didn't know was that someone had seen him turn off the screen that showed what happened and wanted to know what it was about. It was Strudel.

"Um... Hello..." Patch greeted the weiner dog a little nervously.

"Hello..." Strudel greeted back as she came closer to him. "So... You caused a bit of chaos today, didn't you, boy?"

"W-W-What are you talking about?" Patch asked, nervously.

"I saw everything on the screen right before you turned it off." Strudel said.

Patch sighed out of defeat, knowing that he couldn't keep the secret anymore from the smart wiener dog.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Strudel asked, she didn't sound angry with him, but did sound firm.

"*sighs* I thought you, Lucky, and the others would think I was a monster and want to send me away or want to bring me back to my owners, but please, don't bring me back to my owners." Patch begged.

Strudel felt sad about him not wanting to go back to his owners. "Okay... We won't... But, why not?"

"Because... I'm probably in a lot of trouble..." Patch sniffled as he was about to cry again. "They wouldn't want me back... Not after hurting Vendella and innocent people with that firetruck and apartment building."

Strudel wanted to assure him that they wouldn't be too angry, but after seeing how sad Patch was, she just couldn't but she just had to tell Lucky and the others. "Well, everyone else will need to know, they'll be understandable, I'm sure of it." she said.

"I'm not so sure..." Patch whimpered.

"Hey kiddo... It'll be okay..." Strudel assured. "Look, I'll tell you what... If I'm wrong, then you can keep running away... But if I'm right, you stay with us as long as you need to..." she then had a friendly smile.

Patch blinked, but nodded silently, that seemed fair enough, besides, he had another place to possibly run away to: The farm, back with his parents, brothers, and sisters.

"Good, now let's go and see what's going on up there." Strudel said before looking up to the hole that lead to the top floor.

Patch decided to join her.

* * *

Lucky was with Squirt and they both noticed the incoming puppy.

"Hey, what are you doing up here, Patch?" Lucky asked with a friendly smile, he really liked the pup in a fatherly sense.

"Um, me and Strudel wanted to see what was going on up here." Patch answered with a friendly smile, he really liked this dog in the same way, feeling like he was the older dog's foster son.

"Well okay, I was wonderin' how soon you were gonna come up here." Lucky had a small chuckle.

"Hey Dad!" a boy called who was visiting the pound today. "Can I go look at the dogs?"

"Sure, son." the driver replied.

The boy smiled and rushed to meet the dogs, he had short red hair with a gray shirt, blue jeans, and red shoes. He seemed very friendly and a very nice kid. Patch decided to hide so then the kid wouldn't see him and so then he wouldn't be adopted. The boy came to all the cages, first seeing Niblet, then worked his way down. Lucky made sure to keep Patch hidden from this boy as he explored the other dogs first.

Patch looked up from his hiding spot to see that Lucky was helping him from being seen. "Thank you, Lucky." he whispered with a smile.

"Hey doggy!" the boy greeted Lucky.

Lucky showed a friendly smile with his ears pricking up and his tail wagging to show he was a friendly dog.

"You look like a friendly doggy," The boy said. "Wish I could take you with me, but my dad says I'm not responsible enough."

Lucky pouted to him. The boy pet Lucky anyway and moved on. Lucky smiled to the boy, then kept Patch hidden just in case, at least the boy didn't notice Patch.

"Is he gone yet?" Patch whispered.

"Just a little while longer little, buddy." Lucky whispered with a friendly smile.

The boy went to his father who was the delivery truck driver.

"Okay, you can come out now." Lucky told Patch.

Patch then came out from his hiding spot. "Thanks for helping me hide lucky." he said. "But why did you help me hide?"

"Oh, well, if you were seen, this kind may have wanted to adopt you for a pet," Lucky explained. "I didn't want him to take you away if you didn't want to."

"Well, thanks, Lucky, um, I think Strudel wants all of us down in the tunnels." Patch said.

"I wonder what it could be." Lucky wondered.

* * *

As soon as the human boy was out of sight, all of the dogs went underground.

"So, Strudel, what's so important that you wanted all of us back down here?" Squirt asked.

"It is about Patch and what you all must know about him." Strudel answered.

"Uh... What don't we already know?" Niblet was lost. "Isn't he a puppy?" he then looked to Patch. " **ARE YOU A SPACEMAN!?** "

"No, no, no, Niblet, I'm not a spaceman." Patch answered.

"Perhaps this will make it much easier." Strudel said before turning on all of the screens, showing of what happened at the park during puppy school.

The other dogs looked to the video and gasped slightly. Patch whined, fearing the worst as he placed his head down and covered himself with his paws.

"Wait, Strudel, can you rewind that video to before Patch lifted up the firetruck?" Lucky asked the wiener dog, seeing something suspicious.

Strudel looked to him with a nod, then rewound the video, but this time, played it slower.

"Okay, stop right there." Lucky said.

Strudel stopped the video, showing that Vendella was looking as if she was planning something.

"Who's that?" Squirt wondered.

"Vendella deVil..." Patch looked firm at the Afghan hound.

Vendella was laughing in the video. _ **'Now, just to get that 'Dumbmatian' kicked out of Puppy School... And... I know just how to do it!'**_ she then walked off to get Patch to use his strength which would get him kicked out of school that very moment.

Everyone was now growling at the evil puppy as her evil plan was working.

"That's Vendella." Patch told the other dogs, looking angry with the mischievous puppy, she was indeed a DeVil.

The devil puppy even laughed evilly after everyone left and saw that Patch had left entirely without his collar.

"I don't like her..." Niblet growled.

"Me neither!" Squirt scoffed, then looked a little evil. "Let's set her fur on fire!"

"No, bullying gets you nowhere." Strudel advised, not wanting to use childish brute force.

The screens were then turned off after showing what happened.

"So, what should we do, Lucky?" Squirt asked, still wanting something bad to happen to Vendella for her misdeeds.

Lucky looked down to Patch and didn't think it was right for that evil puppy to trick the Dalmatian puppy, not one little bit. They all had to come up with something.


	7. Wherever You Are

It was getting dark outside and Cherry yawned.

"Guys, we better get back... It's getting late..." Cherry said as she checked the time.

Darla fell asleep with Maisy on one of the benches they were sitting on.

Atticus didn't want to stop looking for Patch, but he couldn't keep them all up all night. "Okay, we all better get home." he said. He picked up Darla in his arms to carry her home.

Maisy yawned and followed them home.

"I know you might not be able to, but get some rest..." Cherry advised. "It might make you feel better..."

"I'll try," Atticus said. "But no promises."

"Of course..." Cherry said, she then got herself home.

Atticus continued to take Darla home as it was very late for them to be awake.

* * *

Cherry passed the church, she tried to ignore it as she was on her way home, she thought of maybe asking for help there, but just shrugged it off and kept walking. However, when she unlocked her front door and locked it behind her, she saw Forte was there, sitting at the kitchen table. "Dangit, how did you get in here?"

"Your mother gave me a key..." Forte showed the key he had.

Cherry blinked to him, then tried to take it from him as he dangled it high out of her reach. "GIMME THAT THING!"

"No, I won't, besides I think I might know where Patch is." Forte said, already knowing of the situation.

Cherry looked to him. "How did you-"

"Cerise, are you forgetting I know just about everything?" Forte said as he put the key in his coat pocket.

"Sadly no... Where is he?" Cherry asked, not sounding that friendly with her demand.

"He's at Shelter 17, but that's all I can tell you for right now. What I can tell you is that Cruella DeVil's puppy is about to be exposed for the evil mutt she truly is." Forte said.

"Cruella has a dog now?" Cherry rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but she only adopted the dog to be on the cover of a magazine." Forte then explained.

"Shallow little-" Cherry was about to curse, but her mouth was covered before she could. She then glared to Forte and removed his hand from her mouth, folding her arms. "Can we get Patch back?"

"Cerise, it's after dark, the pound is closed... We'll go later."

"We? Oh, no, no, you're not coming..." Cherry walked down to her bedroom with a small yawn. "There's no way you're coming along!"

"Okay, okay, but you should know that Patch needs to come back home by his own free will." Forte said before showing Patch's collar with his dog tag.

"How did you get that!?" Cherry glanced at him.

"I thought I could hold onto it..." Forte handed the red collar to her. "Get some sleep, Cerise..."

"Okay... I will..." Cherry said calmly. "Now, would you be as so kind as to GET OUT OF MY HOUSE BEFORE MY PARENTS SEE YOU!?"

"They already know..." Forte said to her. "We agreed that I'll look after you so you don't stay locked in your room all day on the computer or television you kids are so fond of these days..."

Cherry growled and stormed to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THOSE TWO!?"

* * *

Colette couldn't sleep as she looked out the window. Atticus was the same as he looked out the window as well.

* * *

"I hope this plan of yours works, Lucky." Patch said to the older dog.

"It has to..." Lucky said as he tried to sleep, but talked with Patch still. "I'm sure it will... You picked the right dog to end up with, kid... No one's luckier than me!"

"Well then, maybe after this, we could go back to my pet, Atticus's place and have them adopt you." Patch said, hoping that the older dog would agree.

"That's mighty nice of you, kid, but I kinda need to stay here..." Lucky smiled at the offer. "This place would fall apart without me. I don't mind being here at all... We'll keep in touch though."

Patch sighed, he had to make the most of his time with Lucky he supposed.

"Wait, I think Atticus's house is close by." Patch said.

Lucky didn't say anything to that, he had fallen asleep.

"I'm sure of it." Patch said before going to sleep.

All of the Pound Puppies went to sleep that night, they were probably going to need it. Vendella was going to be exposed as the evil bullying puppy she truly was.


	8. Pound Puppies Plan

The next morning was rough for Atticus and Colette, both being very worried and a little sick due to Patch having gone missing and all. But their worries were going to be soon put to rest as Lucky, Patch, and the Pound Puppies were all going to put Lucky's plan into action. Lucky woke up before everybody else, he decided to go over the plans one more time before the others would wake up, the sun was just slowly coming up now. Patch then woke up and saw that Lucky wasn't with him when he woke up.

"Where's Lucky?" Patch asked, looking around for the older dog.

Niblet yawned and stretched. "I thought he was with you..."

"Yeah, same here." Squirt nodded in agreement.

"He must have gone to go over the plans." Patch said before going down to the tunnels.

"Probably, baby..." Cookie smiled to him, being in a much better mood with him.

Patch smiled to her, then continued to go down the pound tunnels to find the older dog.

"Ah, good morning, Patch." Lucky smiled to him.

"Morning, Lucky, so ready to go over the plan?" Patch asked before scratching behind his right ear.

"You bet..." Lucky gave a nod. "You sure you're ready to go through this?" he asked the puppy just to make sure.

"Yes, I am sure that pup needs to be punished and man she will be hated by everyone when they see this info on her." Patch said.

"Couldn't agree more." Lucky said.

Patch and Lucky then talked it over while the others were either still asleep or just waking up.

* * *

Colette could barely eat this morning, she just curled up into a ball and looked miserable.

"Oh,..." Elizabeth saw the miserable puppy. "Jim Dear, Colette doesn't look very well..."

James came and saw this as he put down his morning paper. "Oh... Maybe we should call the vet..." he suggested.

Danielle, Scamp, and Angel flinched at the mention of the vet, but Colette was so depressed, she didn't even react to that, she just slowly blinked.

"Strange, whenever one of us mentions the word vet, the puppies flinch, but this time Colette didn't even look like she was afraid of the vet, she must be really sad." Mo guessed.

"Oh... Poor Colette..." Elizabeth picked up the blue-collared puppy. "What's wrong, dear?"

Colette just whined and looked very miserable. Lady looked very worried, being the mother and all.

"Man, Colette must really be in love with Patch." Angel figured.

"You know what they say about that love mush..." Danielle rolled her eyes slightly, she was sad for her sister, but she wasn't really interested in love stories due to being a tomboy. "Don't worry, Collie... Love will find a way and Patch will be back..."

Colette quietly whimpered, still very miserable.

"Well, I have to get to school..." Mo put on her backpack over her uniform. "I'm sorry, but I really need to go... I'll be back though, I promise."

Colette whined as Mo left, but just looked very sick and unhappy without Patch, deeply worried about him. This was going to be a long day for Colette.

* * *

Atticus was the same way at breakfast as he began to just look like he wasn't very hungry. Darla was more able to eat her breakfast, but she was sad like Atticus.

"Don't worry, dear..." Emily soothed her son. "We'll find Patch... We mustn't give up... I wish I could let you take school off to look for him, but I'm afraid I can't do that..."

"*sighs* I understand, Mom, but I'm still worried about him." Atticus said.

"I'm sure he's fine wherever he is." Darla said, softly.

Emily kissed both their foreheads before washing the dishes. "Try to calm yourselves, dears..."

"We'll try." Atticus and Darla said.

"Oh, Patch, we really miss you, I just wish you knew that." Maisy said.

* * *

"Alright, everyone got the plan so far?" Lucky asked.

The dogs agreed.

"Oh, wait..." Niblet seemed to be the one who missed it. "What plan?"

This made the other dogs groan slightly.

'Oh brother, Niblet might be a good guy, but man, he is not at all that bright,' Patch thought. 'I wonder if his family is just like him.'

Lucky went through it one more time and looked to the other Pound Puppies and Patch. "Okay, we all got it this time?"

The dogs all nodded, even Niblet this time.

"Good..." Lucky smiled. "I hope you're all excited as I am... I know Patch is."

"That evil puppy is about to get what's coming to her." Patch said, assertively.

"You got that right, sugah," Cookie snarled. "How soon until we go?" she asked Lucky.

"When the pound opens, you all know what to do, there might not be any kids coming by though since it's a school day for humans too," Lucky instructed. "We all good?"

The other dogs agreed, this was going to be a perfect plan.

* * *

Elizabeth came with Angel, Scamp, and Danielle, Colette had decided to stay home today, really not wanting to go to school if Patch wasn't going to be there, possibly facing some sort of horrifying fate. Elizabeth knocked on the front door as the puppies went in the backyard and Kate came to the door and explained to her what happened.

"Patch isn't coming?" Anne-Marie asked the puppies before she was going to Harold's car to ride to school.

"No, I'm afraid not." Itchy stated.

"Or Colette?" Anne-Marie then asked.

"Colette and Patch... Erm... Very close..." Angel explained while Scamp nodded in agreement.

"Well, sorry to hear that..." Anne-Marie frowned for the puppies. "I wish I could help."

The horn honked of Harold's car.

"I gotta go... Have a good day!" Anne-Marie called before going to school with her adoptive father.

"We will or at least, we'll try to." Scamp said.

"Yeah go and have a good day at school." Itchy added with a smile.

* * *

The puppies went to the backyard where the others were. They all thought Patch and Colette's problem was very sad and unfortunate, but hopefully, a day at school would help distract them.

"Hello, everyone." Vendella said, entering, this time not late.

The other puppies murmured to her.

"Nice to see you on time for a change, Miss Rubella." Itchy greeted.

"VENDELLA!"

"Right... Miss Vendella... Class hasn't started just yet, go mingle with the others..."

"If I must..." Vendella turned from him and came to the other puppies.

Itchy grumbled as she turned away, now seeing how selfish and snooty she really was after being told about it.

"Hello there, everyone looks like someone else isn't here besides that monster, Patch." Vendella said to the other puppies.

Scamp growled protectively. "You leave my sister out of this!"

Angel and Danielle growled too.

"My... Your whole family has a temper problem, perhaps that Columbia couldn't control it..." Vendella huffed.

"Her name is Colette!" Angel barked.

"Colette, Columbia, like it makes a difference." Vendella scoffed.

All of the puppies were now growling at Vendella for how heartless she was. While this was going on, the Pound Puppies were putting their plan into action. The humans were walking around and talking about the dogs to check on them for the day, but they stopped and went into an office, shutting the door behind them.

* * *

"Now, now, now!" Lucky signaled the others to make it look like they were here when they weren't going to be.

Even Patch got to have his own dummy as the other Pound Puppies were setting theirs up and they were going to sneak off and threat Vendella for making Patch run away from home and school.

"Oh, I am so going to love it when everyone finds out how evil Vendella is, she will be completely hated by everyone, besides her owner." Patch said.

Lucky chuckled. "You remind me so much of myself when I was a puppy... I like that..."

Patch smiled back at his current father figure as they set the plan up. This was it. The moment of truth.

"That evil puppy is going to be hated by more dogs, puppies, people and every living creature." Strudel said, wanting Vendella to pay as well.

"She's gonna get in trouble too!" Niblet added in, not thinking that meant the same thing.

Lucky shook his head at the sheepdog, but they all went along with this plan of theirs. They all then went out to put their plan into action so then the evil puppy could get what was coming to her.


	9. Busted!

Itchy started class and taught them about playing fetch, giving out the rules and regulations and that it wasn't just a game. All of the puppies listened to every word, even Vendella listened, even if she was bored out of her mind of him talking and telling them that fetch was more than just a game.

"You're not just gonna be fetching for sticks, oh, no, maybe even house slippers for the man!" Itchy continued. "Maybe the daily paper! It's up to you to get whatever your human needs when they need it!"

The puppies absorbed that knowledge, even if some of them were mostly thinking about and worried about the two absent students.

 _'Oh, brother, are they still worried about those two? Get over it already!'_ Vendella thought.

Colette was sleeping in Junior's room alone. She was trying to catch up on some sleep, but it was a little hard for her to.

* * *

The Pound Puppies got with Patch, ready to set their plan in action as Patch was having the same thoughts about Colette. He didn't just like her, he really did and truly loved her.

"Hey, you okay, little buddy?" Lucky asked the Dalmatian puppy, noticing his mind was somewhere else.

"Oh, uhh... I'll be fine..." Patch said softly, he couldn't help but notice the Brown house wasn't too far away from the Bluth house.

Lucky was worried, but he put it aside for now. "Alright everybody, let's go!"

"This is the moment of truth," Patch said. "Everyone is about to find out who Vendella really is."

"Got the camera?" Lucky asked.

"Check." Strudel nodded.

"Got the video footage?" Patch asked.

"Check." Strudel nodded.

"Then let's do this." Patch said.

They all moved in then.

* * *

Harold came in the backyard and threw sticks, softballs, and Frisbees for the puppies for fetching practice.

"Be sure to bite down hard when you catch one, kids!" Itchy advised. "You'll never truly catch it unless you bite down!"

"Perfect, looks like they're going to be learning how to catch." Patch whispered.

"Ah, Puppy School... The fond memories of youth..." Niblet sighed. "The food, the new friends, the food, the lessons, the food, the food, the socialness, the food... Uh, am I forgetting something?"

"The food?" the others asked jokingly.

"That's it!" Niblet smiled to them.

It was now time for the plan to be put into action.

* * *

Cherry was drumming her fingers on her desk top as she was sitting against her will, surrounded by idiotic students while the teacher tried to control them. Suddenly Forte came into the classroom and whispered to the teacher.

The teacher turned and looked to the girl. "You have an appointment, Miss Butler."

Cherry didn't even hesitate, she gathered all her things, lugging her backpack behind her and walked down the hallway with Forte.

"Do you know what class Atticus has right now?" Forte asked her as they were going down the hallway.

"Why are you here?" Cherry ignored his question.

Forte did the same to her. "What class does Atticus have right now?"

"He's in Math," Cherry explained, then asked. "Why, what's going on?"

"I know where Patch is..." Forte said to her.

"You pulled me out of class for that?" Cherry slightly narrowed her eyes at him.

"And a certain evil puppy is about to exposed for who she truly is now come on we got to get Atticus," Forte said. "Now if your finished with your questions, we have to go and get him."

Cherry rolled her eyes at him, but followed.

"Wait out here..." Forte told her before knocking on the classroom door.

The teacher went to open the door. Cherry looked away lazily as she waited.

"Yes, can I help you?" the teacher asked.

"Mr. Fudo needs to come to the principal's office... It's urgent..." Forte informed stoically.

The teacher nodded, then turned to the class. "Atticus..."

Atticus felt busted, he gathered his things and walked out of the classroom as the door shut behind him. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, now come along." Forte said, taking them down the hallway and out of the school.

"Isn't this illegal?" Cherry asked as they were leaving the school and not going to the principal's office.

"Do you two want to see Patch again or not? Forte asked.

"Wait, how do you know that Patch ran away?" Atticus asked with a smile. "But more importantly, you found out where Patch is?"

"Just come with me..." Forte told them. "And you're not telling your parents that I let you do this..."

"ILLEGAL!" Cherry yelled out as she followed them out.

"I had to get you out of there," Forte glanced back at her. "You were getting more gray hairs than me!"

"I can't help it if I have classes with a bunch of idiots." Cherry grumbled.

"Let's just get going and quit complaining, Cherry." Atticus said.

"I'm not complaining, I'm just pessimistic." Cherry mumbled.

Forte held them close and then an officer walked by. " **WHY AREN'T THOSE KIDS IN SCHOOL!?** "

Forte raised his hand and wiggled his fingers slightly.

"I'm on break... You handle it..." the cop said in a trance, then walked away to get a box of donuts and a cup of coffee.

"When are you gonna teach me how to do that?" Cherry glared up at him.

Forte didn't answer and took them behind the Bluth family fence where the puppy school was held just as the Pound Puppies were off to put their plan in action.

* * *

In the Brown house, Colette couldn't take being away from Patch any longer, while Elizabeth was feeding Junior, she just went out the kitchen doggy door and decided to run away herself.

She just couldn't take it anymore, she loved Patch with all her heart and if he was going to run away, then so would she. But she wouldn't get far as soon as she would catch Patch's scent. Patch did catch a familiar scent, but he had to focus right now on the plan. Colette kept searching as she wandered the streets alone, if her father could do it, why couldn't she?

* * *

"I told you all, now stop thinking about him so much!" Vendella scowled to the other puppies after Itchy had to come inside when Harold and Kate called for him. "Patch is never coming back! I'm the alpha dog now! **SO QUIT IT**!"

"I don't think so!" Angel sneered, about to fight her, her inner junkyard dog coming back to haunt this spoiled pooch.

"Yeah! You've done nothing but bully us!" Danielle sneered, wanting to fight her as well.

Scamp growled, protective of both Angel and Danielle. Copper jumped in and growled in Vendella's face, but she just rolled her eyes.

"You'll never be a real hunting dog," Vendella spat at him and shoved him back. "You're friends with a fox for Gabriel's sake!"

"You take that back!" Copper demanded.

"HA!" Vendella had a snooty look. "Never... Just like Patch is _never_ coming back!"

This caused for all of the puppies growl at her and really want to make her pay.

'Oh, Vendella, I wouldn't keep acting snooty if I were you.' Patch thought as they put the plan into action.

"Now?" the others asked.

"NOW!" Lucky called.

Vendella ignored their growls, not finding them to be any threat, but she did hear Lucky's voice. "Who's there?" she turned around, yipping slightly. "SHOW YOURSELF TO VENDELLA DEVIL!"

"Sounds like someone's in trouble." Scamp smirked.

Lucky came out first.

"Wow, it's Lucky of the Pound Puppies!" Copper gasped.

"Don't be stupid," Vendella scoffed. "They're just a myth..."

"I don't think so, little lady and you're in a heap of trouble." Lucky looked firm to Vendella.

"Oh yeah, how's that?" Vendella rolled her eyes.

"We got you on camera!" Patch jumped next to Lucky.

The other puppies gasped. "PATCH!"

"Yep, I'm here and we have a little show called Evidence." Patch said.

"Oh, cool!" Danielle piped up. "When's that gonna be on TV?"

Everyone rolled their eyes slightly at Danielle, but they listened to Patch.

"Who're gonna show that to anyway?" Vendella darkly smirked. "I'm a DeVil, we're all the same!" she then muttered low under her breath. "Except for that pesky older sister of Jackson and Ivy..."

"Oh, you'll soon see." Patch smirked and then nodded to Lucky.

Lucky nodded back.

"You're all fools!" Vendella roared.

Then the door bell rang.

"Right on cue." Patch said.

* * *

Harold answered the door. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Um, yes, I have something that you, your wife, your daughter, your dog, and any other animals you might have here that you all must see," Niblet said in his human disguise. "May I come in?"

"You're gonna have to wait a little while for little Anne-Marie, she's still in school, but will be home in a bit." Harold informed.

"Very well... May I sit down?" Niblet asked.

"You may..." Harold let the stranger in, very curious of him.

Kate was getting ready to pick up Anne-Marie from school now, she was curious of the stranger, but maybe her questions would be answered after picking Anne-Marie up from school.

Niblet was able to sit down on a chair even if he was a dog. 'Going as planned so far, just don't mess up and that evil puppy will be revealed for who she is.' he thought.

"Harold, I'm getting Anne-Marie now." Kate called before leaving.

"Alright, dear!" Harold called back as she left, then smiled. "Are you new in town, sir?"

Kate walked out the door and noticed the other Pound Puppies such as Lucky, Strudel, and Squirt. "Hm... Must be some new puppies in town..." she murmured to herself as she got to the car and got to drive to the elementary school.

"No, I've always been in this town I just haven't been social, but I won't be staying in town long, I'll be moving, just don't ask me where to or when." Niblet said in his disguise.

"Ah okay..." Harold nodded, totally fooled.

Atticus really wanted to get Patch then and there, but Forte told him to wait.

It felt like forever, but Kate finally brought the car back with Anne-Marie in the back-seat. Kate then opened the back door after parking the car, picking up Anne-Marie's new baby sister and Anne-Marie jumped out, joining her new family. They then went inside together.

"Kate, this new friend of ours has something to show us." Harold told his wife.

"Oh?" Kate asked as she carried Baby Charlie in her arms.

"Yes and it's something that all of you including your dog and any other animals that you might have here must see." Niblet said in his disguise before showing a video tape.

The Bluth family was curious, but they gathered the puppies together.

"What's going on, Mr. Itchy?" Angel asked their teacher.

"I dunno, but it sounds important." Itchy shrugged as he sat on the floor with them.

* * *

Harold, Kate, and Anne-Marie watched the video tape that Niblet told them to as they sat and waited. They could see the Puppy School while Kate was inside and taking care of the house while Harold was at work, Anne-Marie was in school, and Charlie was in daycare. It was the first day, so Patch was there and everything was normal until they got to recess when Kate took Itchy for a walk in the park and gave the puppies a recess break.

"You all need to pay close attention to this scene." Niblet said in his disguise.

The family took note and paid attention. Vendella was barking to Patch, Harold and Kate couldn't understand it, but Anne-Marie could. Harold and Kate could make out though that Vendella was challenging Patch and pointing to the firetruck and the apartment building. Patch glared at her and lifted with his strength, shocking the human couple as the firetruck was flying through the air and crashed into the building.

Harold and Kate weren't sure, but they could sense the guilt Patch had into running away after Itchy told him to go home and Vendella was laughing evilly that he was gone and she could rule the school now. The video ended then and there.

Patch and Lucky looked from the window and smiled to each other from outside. Vendella whimpered as she backed up.

"Oh my poor puppy!" a little girl with a curly blonde wig in a purple dress seemed to suddenly rush into the room and picked up Vendella. "I'm so sorry... The bus was late and I had to help an old lady cross the street... And... And..."

"You have a bad puppy, little girl," Harold firmly told her. "You should have your parents send her to an obedience school."

"Wait a minute..." Patch notcied something off about this girl, he rushed in, jumped on the girl and removed the wig to show that she had black and white hair in low pigtails.

"IVY DEVIL!" everyone then realized who this little girl was.

Ivy patted her head and growled at the Dalmatian puppy. "Stupid puppy dog!"

Patch simply growled at her, already knowing of how evil she was just as evil as her brother and her aunt.

"Wow, I did not see that one coming." Lucky said, surprised at who the girl really was.

"This ain't over!" Ivy growled, she took out a doll, twisted its head and it turned into a jet plane, she got in it with Vendella. "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF US!" she roared as she set the jets and they took off.

Itchy blinked, very surprised with the little girl. "Wow... Well, I know someone who's expelled now!"

This made the other puppies laugh a little.

Patch came to Angel, Scamp, and Danielle. "Where's Colette?"

"She's at home, she couldn't come to school because she missed you so much." Angel explained.

Patch nodded and left, he then met the Pound Puppies and Atticus again. "I have to go, I'll see you guys later!" he then put his red collar back on and rushed down the road. "I HAVE TO FIND COLETTE!"

"Aw, how adorable..." Cookie smiled to little Patch as he set off.

"Oh and Atticus, after I find Colette, we need to find out how far the house is from Shelter 17!" Patch called out to his boy while running to find the puppy he loved.

Atticus nodded, curious of why that was, but let the puppy go.


	10. Love Will Find a Way

Colette kept wandering the streets, she wouldn't stop until she found Patch, she started to lose sign of him and felt so lost, but she had to prevail. Love will find a way. Patch looked and finally found Colette and began to run towards her, happy to have finally found her. Colette looked back and saw Patch, she smiled instantly and ran to him to embrace the puppy she had fallen for. Colette and Patch then nuzzled each other once they were together again.

"Oh, Patch, I was so worried about you!" Colette nearly cried.

"I'm so sorry I made you worry, Colette," Patch said, comforting her. "I just thought that if I was kicked out of puppy school, the Fudos would be disappointed in me and I just couldn't face them."

"Oh... I kinda know how you feel..." Colette coaxed as they walked back together. "Before Annette went bad and ran away with Scrappy-Doo, I kinda copied her... She was the oldest and Danielle was the tomboy... I kinda didn't have anything for myself besides being the middle sister... Sometimes I think I should've ran away with Scamp and those junkyard dogs around Fourth of July weekend."

"And I thought being one of 101 was a handful..." Patch muttered.

The two puppies smiled to each other as they came back to the others.

Patch smiled and ran to Atticus and they shared a very happy reunion with each other.

"So then, should we get going to the shelter and see how far it's from the house?" Atticus asked Patch.

"Yes please... It's absolutely important." Patch said to him.

Lucky, Cookie, Squirt, Niblet, and Strudel had to make this quick, they had to get back to the pound before anyone would notice anything unusual.


	11. One Big Happy Family

Atticus and Patch began to make their way to the shelter, but of course, Patch began to make a few stops to stall them so then Lucky, Cookie, Squirt, Niblet, and Strudel could make it back to the shelter before they did. The human men were talking, as usual, blissfully unaware of the dogs and their methods of working their ways in the Pound. The Pound Puppies went back to their shelter cages and tried to look casual. Atticus and Patch finally made it to the shelter.

"We're finally here," Atticus said. He then noticed their house right next door. "No way, our house is right next door, weird, I wonder why we've never noticed it before." he said, scratching his head, confused of how they never noticed the shelter.

Patch shared a shrug with him. He then went to see Lucky one last time. "Thank you so much for all your help."

"Ah, it's no trouble at all, kid," Lucky smiled to him. "I'm really gonna miss ya... Don't forget to keep in touch, okay?"

"Yeah!" Patch high-fived his paw with a laugh.

Lucky chuckled and gently pet Patch on the head. "You're a good kid... You better get yourself home and I'll see ya again soon."

Patch was sad to leave Lucky and the other Pound Puppies, but it had to be this way, at least now they knew that they could see each other again real soon, he then said goodbye to everybody else before going to join Atticus back home.

"Looks like you made a bond with those dogs." Atticus said to the Dalmatian.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I did." Patch said.

"Especially with that older dog, what's his name?" Atticus asked.

"Lucky." Patch said.

"Just like your brother's name." Atticus said.

"Yeah." Patch said.

Atticus could see that patch and lucky were like father and son and decided that he should adopt Lucky, so then, Patch wouldn't be so sad and wouldn't be alone at times.

"Oh, I want that one!" a girl with orange hair with double ponytails in a green shirt with a pink flower on it with blue jeans and pink shoes. She had wanted to adopt Lucky as her dog. "Please, can I have him?"

Atticus frowned, he wanted to adopt Lucky, but this little girl seemed to want him more.

"Oh, I don't know, sweetie, I mean a dog is a big responsibility." The girl's mother told her.

The orange-haired girl was about to object and say she would be responsible, but then saw of how sad Lucky was and then looked at who he was looking at and seeing Patch who was also sad and somehow knew what to do.

"Mom, I changed my mind, I don't think I'm ready for a dog just yet." The orange-haired girl said.

"Maybe when you're older." the girl's father suggested.

"Yeah, besides, I think someone else deserves to have him." The girl said.

Atticus looked behind him and looked and saw her wink at him, telling him she meant him. They were all going to be one big happy family now. Patrick and Emily were a little worried about having Atticus be responsible for two dogs now while Darla just had her one kitten. Hopefully they would all handle this well enough. Lucky looked to his friends one last time before officially moving into the family.

"Being involved with all these dogs reminds me of Sultan..." Forte said as he watched the dog spread. "I always wanted a dog when I was a boy, but never got one..."

"Maybe it's for the best..." Cherry said to him before ominously walking away.

* * *

Flo came to pick up her orphaned puppies and she noticed something familiar. "L-Lucky, is that you?"

"Hey, Flo, how are you doing?" Lucky asked.

Flo smiled small to him and gently nuzzled with him.

"Miss Flo, you know this dog?" the orphaned puppies asked.

"Yes, it's a long story, little ones." Flo smiled down to them.

"Yay, a story!" The orphaned puppies cheered.

Patch looked down to his medallion and then looked at Lucky and found a way to let them both continue to see the rest of the Pound Puppies as well as Lucky continuing to be their leader. Lucky settled down with Patch, finally having a home, never really having had one, even as a puppy. Patch was glad to have a father figure in his life now since Pongo was a bunch of miles away.


	12. Back to School

The Puppy School continued sessions, but this time, without Vendella. Patch allowed Lucky to go as he would go to school, he carried a bone in his mouth with a big red ribbon tied around it as he came to puppy school today.

"Lucky, after school, I was thinking we would go and see the Pound Puppies and where you can continue your job as the leader." Patch muffled.

"That would be nice," Lucky smiled. "Oh, who's that bone for?"

Patch turned pink briefly. "No one..." he muffled.

Lucky chuckled, by that answer, he highly assumed it was a girl, but let him go. "Okay, Patch... Have a good day, huh?"

Patch nodded and went off to go to school. Lucky was confused of how they could do that either they had to dig a tunnel over to the others or by magic.

* * *

Patch kept going to school and came into the Bluth backyard. Scamp, Angel, Colette, and Danielle had not arrived yet. It was just Flo's puppies and Copper so far, but of course, there would be no Vendella this time.

"Whoa, that's the biggest bone I've ever seen!" the female pink puppy was surprised.

"Dibs!" the fat yellow puppy rushed over to gnaw at it.

"NO!" Patch kept him away from the bone. "It's not for you!"

"Aww..." the yellow puppy whined.

Patch then brought the bone over to Colette. "This is for you, Colette." he said before giving it to the cocker spaniel puppy.

Colette blinked at the bone and smiled. "Oh... Thank you..."

"Whoa..." Angel and Scamp were a bit shocked.

"That's the biggest bone I ever saw!" Danielle gasped.

"Yeah, and it's mine," Colette giggled, then bashfully smiled. "Thank you, Patch."

Patch smiled to her. All of the female puppies couldn't help but go all in aw at how romantic that was of Patch. Patch blushed a little.

"Sounds like I'm gonna have a new brother." Angel chuckled playfully to Patch.

"Shh..." Scamp glanced to her.

"Hey, we fell in love..." Angel reminded him.

* * *

"Good morning, everybody..." Itchy came forth and stretched a bit.

"Good morning, Mr. Itchy." All the puppies including Patch said.

"Now, let's get-" Itchy noticed the bone, looking to Patch and Colette, giving a small giggle. "Let's get started, shall we? Right now, I think we should have story time."

"Story time?" the puppies asked.

"Yes..." Itchy said with a smile. "Uh, Patch? Perhaps you would like to tell us about your little adventure with the Pound Puppies?"

"It would be my honor, Mr. Itchy." Patch said, bowing.

Itchy chuckled and stepped aside. Patch came to the front of the puppies and he told him everything and all about the Pound Puppies, especially Lucky. And where everyone hung onto every word that Patch spoke. Patch told his story and the rest of the school day went great. The puppies cheered at the end of the story.

* * *

Itchy saw Kate get up and take out his leash, he then rushed to her the best he could with his short legs and his leash was clicked onto his new collar. "Alright guys, time for recess!" he called to the puppies and started to go with Kate down the sidewalk and the puppies followed after him.

All of the puppies were excited about recess because not only were they going to play, but also continue to have fun without anyone ruining the moment. Itchy smiled as he went under the bench as Kate sat at it again while the puppies would play. Lucky came into the park, surprising the puppies. Patch was with Colette and they both looked up to him, nervous and surprised.

"Lucky, what are you doing here?" Patch asked him.

"There's a surprise for ya back at the pound, I think you're gonna like it." Lucky smiled down to him.

"Ooh, what is it?" Patch asked.

"If I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" Lucky asked with a playful smirk.

"If you tell us, we'll still act surprised." Patch said.

"Ohh, you are such a naughty puppy." Lucky smirked.

"Oh, come on, Lucky, please." Patch begged.

"Oh, Patch... You'll have something to look forward to." Lucky assured, he then decided to get back.

"Lucky, will he like the surprise?" Colette piped up.

Lucky stopped and looked back with a paternal smile. "It'll be to die for..." his eyes then widened in slight worry. "Oh, maybe not that, but, well..."

"It's okay Lucky, I understand..." Patch would try to be patient, but it wouldn't be easy.

"Let's go and play, maybe that will help." Colette suggested to her lover.

"Yeah!" Patch agreed.

* * *

The puppies all played. Patch did his best not to use his strength to cause any mayhem again. Itchy opened his eyes a little and he saw the puppies peacefully playing, this made him smile as he drifted off back to sleep. But whenever the pups asked for him to use his strength not as a dare or in a mean way, but to play as the hero of their game, he instantly agreed, just as long as he needed to to keep his incredible strength in control.

"It's Patch the Super Pup!" one of the orphan puppies piped up.

"Yeah, Super Pup!" Copper agreed.

A fox kit wandered to the park and came to them, worrying the other dogs, except for Copper of course. "Hey Copper, I haven't seen you much this week!"

"Oh, sorry Tod, I go to Puppy School," Copper told him, then introduced him to his new friends. "Everyone, this is Tod... Tod, this is everyone."

Tod smiled to them, looking forward to having more dog friends, despite being a fox and they were hounds.

"Hey, Tod, nice to meet you, my name is Patch." The Dalmatian puppy introduced himself to the fox kit.

Tod smiled to him. "Wow, you look strong."

"You don't know the half of it." Patch chuckled.

"Yeah, Patch here is the strongest puppy in the whole world." Scamp said.

"You could be in the circus." Tod laughed a little.

All of the puppies shared a laugh, they then continued to play, but this time with Tod. And where he was shown that Patch truly was the strongest puppy in the world, but of course, the Dalmatian puppy remained in control so he wouldn't over do it.

* * *

Tod laughed as he tried to outrun Patch and stood by the girl puppies, looking sinister, but just playing like the others. "You won't catch me, Super Pup! I, The Cajun Fox, will take all these girl dogs and make them my minions!"

"I don't think so, Fox!" Patch retorted back, again, playfully. "You won't get away with this! You wanna fight for it?"

"Fight?" Tod gave him a lazy look. "I was raised by a lady," he then narrowed his eyes with an evil smirk. "We better take this outside..."

"Look out, Super Pup!" the female puppies cried, playing along to their little game.

"It's a trap!" Colette cried, also playing along with their little game.

Tod and Patch growled at each other, being false enemies, even if in reality, foxes and dogs were bitter rivals, but since Tod was best friends with Copper, everyone could trust him. They then playfully wrestled each other and Patch did his best not to use all his strength so he wouldn't hurt Tod. Tod then decided he had enough and due to being the villain of the game, he stopped.

"You win, no more!" Tod called, between laughs, that kind of tickled.

Patch smiled in victory, then 'freed' the girls. "You're all safe, ladies!"

"Hooray for Super Pup!" The girl puppies cheered, playing along as the game ended.

"My hero!" Colette rushed to Patch like a traditional Lois Lane to Superman.

"Curses, foiled again!" Tod pretended to be outraged.

"You alright, little lady?" Patch smiled to her.

"Very..." Colette smiled lustfully, then licked his muzzle, looking away bashfully.

"Ooooohhhh..." the puppies couldn't help but tease them, but not in a mean way, that was just how friends were sometimes.

This made both Patch and Colette blush, but then Patch decided to lick Colette's muzzle and where they seemed to now accept the other's feelings for the other. Itchy and Kate took everyone back to the backyard until it would be time for their owners to come and pick them up.

Flo came to the backyard, pushing through the loose board in the fence and came for the orphaned puppies she raised like her own. "There are my little sweethearts..."

The puppies yipped and ran to the female border collie. Flo giggled and smiled softly to them, nuzzling them all like she was the mother they never had. And where they really was like the mother they never had and always wanted to show how much they loved her.

"Thank you so much, Itchy..." Flo smiled. "I just wish Charlie could have seen it."

"I'm sure he has..." Itchy said, quietly back.

They both shared a friendly hug and Flo went to take the puppies back to their abandoned little home. Anne-Marie decided to play with the puppies that were there until their owners would come, but Patch couldn't play for long.

* * *

"Patch, why won't you play with us?" Angel asked him.

"This is taking too long," Patch groaned, still wanting his surprise, he was a kid after all. "When's Lucky getting here?"

"I'm sure he's on his way, just be patient." Danielle chuckled.

"Yeah, he'll be here soon, why don't you play with us until he gets here?" Colette asked.

"It's taking too long..." Patch whined.

"Ya know, time flies when you're havin' fun," Scamp advised him. "Come play with us."

Patch sighed. "Okay, I'll try." he then laughed as he joined them in playing with Anne-Marie until they would have to get back home.

And where the games they played were Hide & Seek, Tug-of-War, Simon Says and where it seemed like all the puppies were having lots of fun.

* * *

Lucky yawned and finally came by, and it was a good time too, Anne-Marie had to get started on her homework. "Hey..."

"Lucky, you're here!" Patch ran to him, tackling him.

"Whoa!" Lucky fell on the ground on his backside and laughed once Patch ended up on his belly, he then had a little laugh. "I forgot how energetic you puppies could be... Ready for your surprise?"

"Am I ever!?" Patch got excited.

"Alright," Lucky got back on his feet. "Follow me."

"Yes, sir," Patch said before looking over to the other pups. "Bye everyone, see you all tomorrow!"

"Bye, Patch!" the others called until their humans would come.

Patch was eagerly following Lucky back to the shelter.


	13. Welcome to the Pound Puppies

The men who ran it were busy in their office, so they could sneak by and make it inside without being seen. Patch pulled apart the iron bars, allowing him and Lucky to get through and Patch squeezed them back, still following the older dog who was like a mentor to him. The other dogs had put their decoys up. Once Lucky and Patch were in their old pound cell, they jumped through the hole and went in without anyone knowing or noticing.

"All right, now cover your eyes." Lucky told the puppy.

Patch covered his eyes with his ears and he gently bit on Lucky's tail so he could take him in.

* * *

"Okay buddy, you can look now." Lucky told Patch once they were done walking.

Patch uncovered his eyes to reveal they were in their HQ of the Pound Puppies with all of the dogs and puppies that were members of the Pound Puppies there. This must have been something big.

"SURPRISE!" the Pound Puppies called.

Lucky smiled to him.

"Surprise for what?" Patch came to them, but still smiled, they were like the dog family he missed back on the farm. "It's not my birthday."

"We know, but we wanted to give you an offer you can't refuse." Strudel smiled.

"You deserve it, baby." Cookie added.

"What is it?" Patch felt honored for whatever this surprise might be now.

"We were wondering if you'd like to become a Pound Puppy too," Lucky smiled to him. "Of course, since we both have homes now, we can still meet the other Pound Puppies and go on missions. I mean, your boy is in school most of the day, pretty lonely."

"Yeah... Maisy's there, but it is a bit lonely, that's why I came to Puppy School." Patch had to admit.

"How would you like to become one of us, kiddo?" Squirt asked.

"I'd love to and my Equestrian Medallion can be able to make it easier for me and Lucky to get here without being spotted." Patch said, showing his medallion.

Strudel took a look at it. "You have an Equestrian Medal? I thought those things were a myth!"

"Nope, I've been there, especially to help Twilight Sparkle win the Element of Harmony Crown when Atticus was accepted to Canterlot High." Patch explained proudly.

"Interesting... You think maybe I could convert this medallion into an Equestrian one and a Pound Puppy one for you?" Strudel offered with a smile.

"Sure," Patch said, taking it off. "I just hope convert means copy."

"Actually, I'm going to make it both," Strudel explained. "It'll take you to Equestria and it will still be part of the Pound Puppies medal collection."

"So I'll have two in one?" Patch asked.

"Yes," Strudel smiled. "Excuse me a moment." she carried the medallion in her mouth and went to visit the squirrels to get Patch his new trinket.

"Cool." Patch said as he waited for Strudel and squirrels.

"You will become one of us, right buddy?" Lucky smiled to the puppy.

"That's right." Patch smiled to the older dog before playfully tackling him.

Lucky laughed, he was a grown dog now, but still had the spirit of a puppy in him.

"That's so sweet!" Niblet laughed.

"It looks like those two are like a father and his son playing together." Squirt said, seeing of how happy the older dog and the Dalmatian puppy were.

"Yeah... Lucky's never had a puppy of his own and Patch probably misses his daddy..." Cookie agreed. "You know Patch's dad is The Pongo."

" _The_ Pongo!?" the other dogs got excited and intense.

"You guys know my dad?" Patch looked to them.

"Oh yeah," Lucky smiled. "We haven't met, but we've heard of your parents. Also your brothers Lucky and Rolly and sister Cadpig came back home and they decided they should go back to the family on the farm, so we had to help in the Twilight Bark to reunite them back."

"They ran away from home?" Patch frowned.

"Probably very homesick." Niblet assumed.

"Yeah and they probably got to learn that home is where the heart is after being alone in the old house." Patch said.

"Nice that you handled it maturely though." Cookie soothed.

"Yeah, but I like it with Atticus... I do miss my brothers and sisters sometimes..." Patch shrugged. "But, I can visit during the summer with Anita's niece, Amber."

"I'd like to meet her and this family of yours, so then I can meet the famous parents, not of only of the Twilight Bark, but also the lucky ones that gave birth to such an extraordinary puppy." Lucky said, ruffling the top of the Dalmatian puppy's head.

Patch chuckled, this was great fun.

* * *

Strudel came back with the new medallion. "Here you go, Patch, it's all ready."

"Thank you, Strudel." Patch smiled as he slid it back on around his neck where it belonged.

"Now, remember." Strudel said before the others joined in to say their classic motto.

" _ **Once a Pound Puppy, always a Pound Puppy.**_ " they all said together with glee.

"Thanks everyone." Patch said, feeling proud that he was a member of the Pound Puppies.

The Pound Puppies smiled. Patch sniffled, putting his paw over his face.

"Patch honey, are you okay?" Cookie asked.

Patch sniffled as he started to cry. "I'm sorry... It's just that I didn't think this would be happening... Thank you all so much!"

The others comforted him as he cried tears of joy. This was a moment that Patch would never want to forget ever.


	14. Happily Ever After

After the surprise, Lucky decided to take Patch home.

"Well, this'll be a good story to tell your grandpups," Lucky smiled as he walked with Patch. "Maybe you could tell your folks too this summer."

"Oh, absolutely..." Patch really enjoyed this day. "And I'll never run away from home again."

"That's good... Now, let's get some dinner, huh?" Lucky joined Patch to the Fudo house as it was close to dinnertime now.

"Okay, race ya inside." Patch said, challenging the older dog, playfully.

Lucky chuckled. "You're on!"

The two then raced to get inside the house. Patch laughed, he felt so much better and was a lot happier. The door was then opened, letting both the Dalmatian puppy and the older dog in.

* * *

"Ha! I so won." Patch said, playfully.

"No way, little guy, I did." Lucky said playfully back.

The dogs shared a laugh and came to the couch. Emily was on the couch with one of her personal soap opera programs, Darla was coloring on the floor with Maisy napping next to her, and Patrick was holding Emily as she cried at some scenes. Atticus decided to join them after closing the door. Then suddenly, there was a knocking at the front door.

"I'll get it." Patrick offered, going over to the door.

Darla hummed as she kept doodling with her pink crayon. When he opened the door, he saw a man a woman and a little girl with orange hair, he recognized that family instantly.

* * *

"Oh hello there," Patrick smiled. "Come on in..."

The parents walked in with their daughter.

Darla looked over to the girl. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" the girl asked in return, repeating the question.

"Kids, these are your Uncle Howard, your Aunt Gretchen, and your cousin, Dot Henderson." Patrick introduced.

The Fudo kids were a little surprised.

"How come we haven't met before?" Atticus asked.

"That's what I wanna know," Dot looked to her parents. "Mom, Dad, how come we never met these relatives before?"

"Well, because, dear, we had some travel and meeting problems." Gretchen said.

"That's true..." Dot twiddled her fingers together.

"We'll all discuss this after dinner." Patrick offered.

That sounded fair enough, once dinner was set, the cousins decided to bond as their parents would talk.

"Oh, you're a handsome doggy!" Dot hugged Lucky tight around his neck, not trying to be forceful, but that was just how she was.

"His name is Lucky and this is Patch," Atticus said, presenting the Dalmatian puppy. "And my name is Atticus."

"Sweet," Dot smiled. "I wish I could have a dog..."

Patch could see how much Dot really wanted a dog, but didn't know if the house they lived in was close or not.

"So wait, you mean every house has been sold and you don't have any place to stay?" Patrick asked Howard.

"Not right now anyway." Howard explained.

"When we earn enough money from our new jobs though, we'll find a new place, but we're kinda stuck right now..." Gretchen added.

"Well, why don't you stay here with us, with have extra rooms that have been empty and we have plenty of food we haven't been able to run out at all." Emily said.

"Oh, we don't want to oppose." Gretchen said.

"We insist you three stay here." Patrick said.

"Only if you wouldn't mind..." Gretchen rubbed her arm. "I mean, would there really be room for enough of us?"

"We insist, this is a very prized house and we always enjoy company." Emily soothed.

"Well, okay, besides, Dot could use some friends," Gretchen said. "She doesn't seem to have ay at her school."

"Oh, why?" Patrick frowned.

"She's a little shy," Gretchen said with a soft and quiet smile. "I'm sure though bonding with her cousins will improve her social skills."

* * *

"So, um, Dot, is the house you live in close by?" Patch asked the orange-haired girl, not overhearing what the adults were saying.

Dot was a little surprised to Patch. "You can talk!"

"Oops," Patch said before knowing there was no turning back. "Yes, and so can Lucky and all the dogs in Shelter 17, but this is our little secret, Atticus does know that dogs can talk, but you should know that he can talk to animals."

Dot got a little hysterical and blinked rapidly. She pulled off her large glasses, rubbed them against her shirt and looked back, a little surprised. "Really...?" She didn't think this could be real, it felt like a dream, but in fact, it was not.

"Really really." Maisy added in.

Dot rubbed her head. "Ooh... What a day..."

"I know what you mean, this day has been surprising for all of us." Patch said.

"I think I might wanna go to bed early..." Dot giggled, this was strange, new, exciting, crazy, and adventurous for her.

"Understandable." Atticus said.

Dot hugged her cousins and hugged Patch, Lucky, and Maisy.

"I never had a cousin before." Darla smiled to Dot.

"Well, we can hang out and do almost everything together!" Dot giggled.

* * *

Patrick, Emily, Howard, and Gretchen then came into the room to tell them the news. The others found that exciting and hopefully they would find a nice place within the time. Dot smiled and pet Lucky on the head again, she seemed to be mostly attached to him than the other pets in the Fudo house. Atticus and Patch looked to each other and knew that Lucky was destined to be Dot's pet.

Maisy yawned and stretched, curling up again into a fluff ball. "It's so nice to have some company over..."

Patch came to his mentor. "Lucky... I love having you around and everything... But I think you would be better off being Dot's pet."

"Are you sure, kiddo?" Lucky asked him.

"Yeah, besides me and Atticus can tell that she's the one that you are destined to be with as her pet." Patch reassured.

"Well... As long as you're sure..." Lucky smiled to him.

Patch smiled back, his Pound Puppy destiny was even set for him as he made them come together. "I'm sure."

Lucky put his arm around the puppy to hug him. "Thank you, Patch."

"Your welcome, Dad," Patch said before realizing what he just called Lucky. "Oh, I-I mean..."

Lucky didn't even look mad, but had a small smile. "It's okay, kiddo... Why don't you call your dad tonight and let him know 'ol Lucky's been takin' care of ya, huh?"

Patch smiled, hugging him again.


	15. Puppy Love

When it was late and got very dark, Patch went out the back doggy door and decided to call his dad as advised, but had a surprise. "Colette... What are you doing out here?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were still staying home..." Colette told him. "I was really worried about you when you ran away."

"Yeah, sorry about that, by the way ,look at what the Pound Puppies gave me." Patch said before showing his combined Equestrian Medallion Pound Puppies badge/dog tag.

"Wow..." Colette's eyes twinkled like the charm around his neck. "That's amazing..."

"I'm about to call my parents and tell them all about it... Would you like to join me?" Patch invited with a sweet smile to her.

"I'd love to." Colette agreed to call her lover's parents with him.

Patch gave out a bark with Colette.

* * *

Night at Roger and Anita's farm, the puppies and Spot were gathered together with Pongo and Perdita.

"He hasn't called in a while... Maybe he's over us..." Perdita sighed.

"Don't worry, luv, I'm sure he'll call tonight..." Pongo smiled to her.

"Maybe you need to call the operator..." Spot suggested, not exactly sure how this Twilight Bark thing worked, due to being a chicken and all.

They suddenly heard two puppies calling them, telling them that one of them was Patch and the other must have been Colette, but to them, must have been a new friend.

"Who is that other one?" Pongo wondered as he put his ear up. "Oh, it's one of Lady's puppies, her name is Colette."

"She sounds pretty..." Two-Tone smiled as she waved her pierced ears, loving fashion. "She should come over so we can have a fashion show!"

"It would be nice to see Patch again and meet his new friends." Cadpig said.

"Yeah... He's really come along." Rolly smiled.

Pongo and Perdita barked back, giving feedback from the farm as Patch and Colette waited for an answer.

* * *

"Your parents sound nice..." Colette smiled. "Your mother sounds like the Dalmatian my mother grew up with before Jim Dear adopted her as a Christmas present for Darling."

"Cool and sounds like they really want to meet you, I better tell them about Lucky and the Pound Puppies." Patch said.

Colette giggled, feeling flattered.

* * *

"The Pound Puppies?" Perdita sounded excited. "I know those dogs! They helped me get adopted by Anita when I was just getting out of puppyhood!"

"Cool!" The Dalmatian puppies cheered.

"And sounds like the leader of the Pound Puppies is a dog named Lucky and he's been taking really good care of Patch." Pongo said.

"Wow, you guys are amazing dogs..." Spot was surprised.

"Of course we are!" the Dalmatian Lucky told her. "What? You think these things just happen?"

This made the other puppies giggle a little while Spot looked amazed and confused with him.

"I'll never forget my one shot at love..." Lucky sighed. "I miss her so much... I wonder if she even remembers me..."

"Oh, I'm sure she does, Lucky." Cadpig said to her adventurous brother.

"Don't worry, you'll see her again..." Rolly patted him on the back.

Lucky sighed, then smiled back. "Way to go, Patch, you finally have become one of a kind."

* * *

After the Twilight Bark call, Patch and Colette seemed to fall asleep together in the yard due to how late it was and didn't even realize it until the next morning. They both yawned and saw Lucky outside with them, smirking playfully as they both noticed why he was smirking playfully at them. Colette yawned and woke up, then realized where she was and looked a little embarrassed.

"Sleep well?" Lucky chuckled.

"Yes..." Colette looked nervous. "I didn't mean to stay out so late... Mom, Dad, and the others must be worried..."

"I'll walk you home." Patch volunteered.

"Thank you, Patch..." Colette smiled.

The two puppies smiled and went off together to get back home. Lucky smiled to them as they went. Flo came over to Lucky's side.

"Hey, where'd you come from?" Lucky chuckled to her.

"Oh, I'm everywhere." Flo giggled to him.

"Well, it's so great to see you again, Flo." Lucky said.

"You too..." Flo said to him.

"What are you and the puppies doing here anyway?" Lucky asked her, looking to the orphaned puppies.

"Well... I know it's a lot to take in, but the church we live in is getting very old and could break down any day or night... And since, well, you're a Pound Puppy, would it be too much trouble if maybe we could stay at Shelter 17?" Flo asked softly. "No one's come for them, not even that little Anne-Marie girl would be able to adopt them all since she already has Itchy and everything."

"Well, sure, we have plenty of room and like we always say, there's a pup for every person and a person for every pup." Lucky said, smiling at his old friend.

Flo smiled to that. This was going to be like old times.

* * *

Patch walked Colette back home as her parents were out the house, waiting for her.

"Where were you, Collie?" Tramp asked, a little firmly, but not in a cold iron strict fashion like most fathers. "We got worried!"

"Sorry... I fell asleep..." Colette was nervous. "I didn't think we were out that late, I also wanted to talk with Patch's brothers, sisters, and parents."

"I'm really sorry, sir, I should have taken her home the moment we were finished with talking with my brothers sisters and parents, but it was so late and we hadn't noticed we had fallen asleep." Patch explained.

"Time got away from you, huh?" Lady asked jokingly with a chuckle. "I get that... Plus you live so far away from your family..."

"Yes ma'am and they wanted to hear from Colette too." Patch added.

Lady looked to her mate. "Well, you can understand that, can't you?"

Tramp didn't really understand, he barely remembered anything about his own family, but he let it slide. "I apologize... I shouldn't have yelled."

"It's okay, sir." Patch said, understanding why Tramp yelled.

Tramp smiled at the boy. "Come back anytime, but please, don't let it drag on for too long."

Patch nodded respectively. "Yes sir... I promise it won't happen again."

"Sorry Mom and Dad..." Colette said softly.

Lady looked to Patch and Colette, having a small smile. Being a woman, she saw something in the two puppies no one else could really see: They were in love.

"It's okay, dear, we're just glad you're alright." Lady said.

Colette smiled to her parents.

"I better get going... You have a good day, Colette." Patch told the girl he loved before going off back home.

"Farewell, Patch!" Colette waved to him and joined her family back inside.

"He seems like a nice boy, no wonder you like him." Lady said.

Colette blushed a little. "Mom..."

Lady gave a small laugh. "Puppy Love is the most powerful one there is... Even if I didn't meet your father until much later."

"Really?" Colette looked to her. "When did you guys meet?"

"I believe it was just after Junior was born," Lady smiled. "Of course, also long before we met Monique and Angel."

"Aw!" Colette said, finding it so romantic.

Lady giggled and sighed. "Your father really gave me the adventurous lifestyle... I probably needed it anyway... Anything to get away from Aunt Sarah... Though she did send us those dog biscuits for Christmas."

Colette smiled to her mother.


	16. Once a Pound Puppy Always a Pound Puppy

Lucky walked down the street with Patch.

"Lucky, why are we going back to Shelter 17?" Patch asked his mentor.

"Because Flo wants our help," Lucky said, though they were going to the abandoned church now. "She wants her and her puppies to live in Shelter 17 now to hopefully get them adopted. She loves them and all, but they need real homes too and food isn't exactly easy for them to get. Our old friend Charlie used to say they're broker than the Ten Commandments." he then chuckled a little to that last thing.

"Well, like you always say, there's a pup for every person and a person for every pup." Patch said.

"Right." Lucky chuckled, then they went through the broken down church and climbed up the steps. He creaked the door open as Flo was lying on the floor, waiting for them.

Once she saw them, Flo got on her feet and came to them. "Oh, there you are..."

"Sorry, we had to get a little breakfast first." Lucky chuckled.

"Very well... Come with me, the puppies are so excited." Flo smiled and led them to where the abandoned puppies were.

"I bet they are." Patch said, knowing how excited he was after finding out himself that the Pound Puppies were real.

Flo came into one room. "Children... Uncle Lucky and Patch are here!"

The puppies turned to the two dogs, smiling to them and ran over to them, giving Patch a little puppy tackle.

Patch laughed as he was playing with the younger puppies. "Do they always do this?"

"Mostly when they want to make a new friend or play," Flo smiled. "We'll have time to play soon, little ones, we're going to our new home."

"Yep, to Shelter 17 to be exact the best shelter in the whole world." Patch said, saying the same thing Lucky said to him when he first arrived there.

"What's so special about it?" the pink puppy with a bow on her head asked.

"Just you wait and see, huh?" Lucky laughed a little.

The puppies looked curious and went out of their old home. The fat yellow puppy sighed.

"Come along, dear..." Flo told him.

"I'm just gonna miss that place..." the yellow puppy pouted.

"Trust me, when you get to Shelter 17, it'll cheer you up." Patch assured the yellow puppy.

The yellow puppy whimpered, but followed along. Lucky smiled back at him and continued to lead them the way to his old home.

It was a long walk, but they finally got to Shelter 17. Lucky and Patch looked around, then snuck into the shelter with Flo and the puppies.

"Get ready to enter the secret headquarters of the Pound Puppies." Patch whispered.

* * *

The puppies looked very interested and excited. Once they got to Lucky's old cage, Patch used his strength to make the opening. The puppies jumped inside the cage after Patch let them in. Once all of the orphan puppies, Flo, Lucky, and Patch were inside, Patch then used his strength close up his opening of the cage.

"Thank you so much..." Flo smiled to Patch. "You're really growing into a wonderful dog."

Patch smiled to her.

"Good luck." Lucky told them.

The opening to the entrance to the tunnels of the secret head quarters of the Pound Puppies was then shown to them. Things were going to look up for Flo and the puppies from now on. In fact, something even greater happened. After the Pound Puppies met Flo's puppies, the Pound Puppies offered to become parental units for the orphaned puppies.

Flo felt her heartstrings tugged at that offer and she just couldn't refuse. "That would mean so much to us..." she said softly and sweetly, her eyes shining in hope and happiness for the puppies she raised as her own since they were abandoned into her care.

Two of the orphan puppies were now playing Tug-of-War with each other.

"Looks like those two are having lots of fun." Patch said.

"Yeah, I think this is gonna work out just fine," Lucky smiled. "Plus they have a lot of new toys now."

"Thank you so much..." Flo nuzzled with Lucky and with Patch. "I just wish that Charlie were here to see this..."

"Oh Flo, I'm sure he's smiling down from Heaven..." Lucky soothed, he missed their old friend too, but the past was in the past and they could have memories now.

Patch felt sad for them, but gave them a hug.

* * *

Later that night, meanwhile, Cherry was reading a book that Forte gave her and skimmed her finger across the words.

"So what does this book do?" Atticus asked her.

"Forte says that if you say a certain prayer in it, it can bring anyone back from the dead, but only for a temporary time and send them to anyone anywhere." Cherry said as she looked up from the book.

"Really?" Atticus asked. "Are dogs included?"

Cherry took a look at the list. "It says it's rare if a dog is able to come back..."

"Perfect, because I think there's one dog that we should bring back." Atticus said.

"You mean Charlie Barkin?" Cherry asked.

"Yes... It'll be temporary, but we should have Charlie say goodbye to Flo and Lucky." Atticus nodded.

"I agree..." Cherry held the book in her hands, turning to the dog section, she felt a little sad since this could only be done very few times a year and she really wanted to speak with a long-dead relative of hers, but she was going to sacrifice her time with someone else. She then spoke the Latin terms as the lights were suddenly flickering and the bare candles suddenly had light.

A ghostly sphere came in front of her, emerging from the book. _'Who do you wish to bring back?'_

"I would like to bring back Charlie B. Barkin... Please..." Cherry said to the sphere.

The sphere turned bright golden and it was going up past the ceiling.

"Looks like the sphere got to accept the one that you wished to bring back." Atticus said.

Cherry sighed a little. "I hope they appreciate this."

"I'm sure they will." Atticus said.

Cherry slowly shut her eyes.

* * *

It was just another slow and uneventful day in Heaven, Charlie enjoyed paradise after he sacrificed his life for Anne-Marie, but it was getting a little boring now, he wished he could go back to Earth, but couldn't.

"Charles..." the whippet angel who introduced Charlie to Heaven who was named Annabelle came to the German Shepherd.

"Huh?" Charlie looked to her. "What did I do this time?"

"You are being given a rare opportunity," Annabelle smiled to him. "You are allowed to go down to Earth and see your friends, especially Lucky."

"L-Lucky?" Charlie's eyes widened. "I-I haven't seen him since we lived in the shelter together!"

"Go Charles... Go see them and say goodbye... You have an hour with them now..." Annabelle said as she waved her paw around him, making majestic dust sprinkle over him, soon it blocked his vision and made him cough.

* * *

When Charlie finished coughing and opened his eyes, he was brought into Cherry's kitchen. "Huh? Where am I?" he asked, a little confused.

"It worked." Atticus said.

"Charlie..." Cherry came to the dog.

"Cherry... Is that you?" Charlie was shocked to see her. "H-How's Anne-Marie? Is Itchy taking care of her? Oh man,... Annabelle told me about Lucky and Flo, are they okay too?"

"Shh..." Cherry settled him down. "We'll take you to them."

"Yeah." Atticus agreed.

Charlie was very bewildered, but he followed them.

* * *

Dot was fast asleep in her bed while Lucky was lying down on the floor. There were pebbles thrown to the bedroom window which got Lucky's attention, but luckily, Dot was fast asleep and didn't hear them. Lucky looked to the window, seeing Cherry, then decided to go in the backyard and see her.

Lucky yawned a little. "Cherry, I know you're a night owl, but did you really have to wake me up at this hour? Dot goes to bed at 9:00, you know."

"I know... We have a surprise for you." Cherry said to him.

"Oh..." Lucky then smiled. "I love surprises... What is it?"

"I'll show you once Atticus comes here with Flo."

"Alright." Lucky said, sitting and waiting.

* * *

Atticus then came with the female border collie.

Flo yawned and stretched a little. "You humans stay up late these days..."

Lucky chuckled to that. "Tell me about it... Anyway, Cherry, Atticus, what's up?"

"Okay, you can come over now!" Cherry called.

The bushes rustled and there came a familiar dog to Lucky and Flo that shocked and delighted them at the same time.

"Hey guys... Remember me?" Charlie chuckled once he saw his old friends.

"No way, Charlie, but Flo told me you were dead." Lucky said.

"I was..." Charlie came closer to them. "Still am... But, I can visit down from Heaven, but it's only for an hour."

"That feels short." Cherry said to the dogs.

"Unless you're a dog, and it'll be like seven." Lucky smiled, looking forward to catching up.

Flo was really happy to see Charlie again. "You were so brave to sacrifice yourself for Anne-Marie... She's really growing into a lovely little lady, Charlie... You should see her too."

"Yeah, I should... I did tell her that goodbyes aren't forever." Charlie agreed.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Lucky asked.

Lucky, Flo, and Charlie smiled as they then went to do some bonding until Charlie would be called back into Heaven.

"Too bad Charlie can't stay longer than an hour." Atticus said.

"At least they're all together..." Cherry shrugged. "Hopefully it'll all work out... 'Once a Pound Puppy, always a Pound Puppy' I suppose."

"Yeah." Atticus said.

* * *

The reunion went well as the three dogs traded stories. Charlie went into the Bluth home and went to Anne-Marie's bedroom as the girl was fast asleep and had grown a little since Charlie last saw her and Itchy was fast asleep on the bed next to the girl.

"Go ahead, Charlie." Lucky said while helping him inside.

Charlie nodded, took a deep breath and went on. He went up the stairs of the house once he was inside and went down the hallway. He opened one door to see a couple sleeping. The must've been Anne-Marie's new parents, he shut the door, allowing them to sleep in heavenly peace. He then went through the other door. Ah, that was it, it had a young girl sleeping softly and soundly and there was also a baby crib with a baby that had caramel-colored hair and she was safely tucked into bed as well. Charlie saw Itchy was sound asleep beside the former orphan girl as she slept gently.

"Anne-Marie..." Charlie whispered as the girl slept. "Anne-Marie... Wake up..."

"Hm?" Anne-Marie asked as she woke up and saw Charlie and was happy to see him again. "Charlie, you're back!"

"Hello, Anne-Marie," Charlie smiled to the girl. "Wow, you've really grown since I last saw you."

Anne-Marie giggled, she also hugged him. "I missed you so much..."

"Have you been a good girl and taking care of Itchy for me?" Charlie looked to his sleeping best friend.

"Uh-huh." Anne-Marie smiled, she still looked cute and innocent as always.

Itchy caught Charlie's scent and woke up and saw him. "Ch-Charlie? Charlie!" the Dauschand cheered as he hugged his best friend.

"Itchy!" Charlie called quietly and hugged him too.

Anne-Marie giggled at the two dogs. "Are you going to stay with us now?"

Charlie sighed a little. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay real long... But I couldn't leave before seeing you two again."

"You're leaving?" Anne-Marie asked, instantly sad. "But... Charlie..."

"I'm sorry... But I have to go back where I belong... I told you I'd be back though..." Charlie tried to soften them a little.

"We understand, Charlie." Anne-Marie replied, a little sadly.

"Remember what I told you..." Charlie said to the girl, then looked to the crib. "Oh, got a little brother?"

"Little sister." Anne-Marie corrected as he went to the crib to see the sleeping baby.

"Oh, she's so beautiful..." Charlie smiled. "What's her name?"

"Charlotte, but we call her Charlie for short." Anne-Marie told him.

"Charlie?" the German Shepherd sounded touched.

"When my new mother was going to have a baby, I was thinking of you and she asked me if I wanted to name the baby... If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have met them and have the mommy and daddy I always wanted." Anne-Marie concluded with a smile as she hugged Itchy.

Charlie sniffled, smiling to her, coming back to her and nuzzled against her. "Good night, Squeaker."

"Goodbye, Charlie..." Anne-Marie whispered softly as she was getting tired again.

"I'll miss ya, pal..." Itchy whispered.

Charlie even hugged him and went to get himself out of the house so he could say goodbye to Flo and Lucky before he would need to go back to his new eternal home. Anne-Marie went back to bed and went back to sleep. Itchy nuzzled against her before he fell back asleep.

* * *

Charlie was sad to leave, but he came to say goodbye to Lucky and Flo as the hour was almost up. He hugged them one last time as he was becoming transparent and the clouds were opening up. "Well... This is it... Goodbye, you guys..."

"Goodbye, Charlie..." Lucky and Flo told him sadly as he was being brought back through the golden gates of Heaven.

Flo sniffled and embraced against Lucky as Charlie was going back and no one knew when he would be able to come back again officially since the deceased could only visit someone from Cherry's book in very few days in the year. It was both fair and unfair, but that was just how the world worked sometimes. No one knew why, but it was.

* * *

The next day the orphan pups were having a lucky day because it was Adoption Day at Shelter 17. The puppies were a little nervous and excited at the same time.

"Don't worry guys, it's going to be okay..." Patch tried to soothe them, acting like a mentor himself to them like Lucky was to him. "Because we're the Pound Puppies and we're gonna get you guys some homes! But always remember, 'once a Pound Puppy, always a Pound Puppy'."

The puppies were still nervous, but looked more confident now. Each of the orphan puppies began to look their best for the kids that were going there to adopt a puppy.

* * *

Soon, almost every puppy was adopted. All except for one who was far too shy for anyone to adopt them.

The pink puppy with the bow on her head curled up in a ball once she was all alone.

"Fuchsia, what's wrong?" Patch asked her.

"No one's gonna want me..." Fuchsia whimpered. "Everyone else has a home except for me... I don't know where else I could go."

Patch felt bad for her and the shelter was just now closing and no one would take her as their own. What could he do? He went down to see the others as Fuchsia was alone and miserable.

"It really was nice having those puppies and now they have their own homes..." Strudel smiled. "I just wish we could've kept at least one of them... They were like the children I never had."

Patch overheard what Strudel said and this gave him an idea. "Um, Strudel? There is still one puppy that hasn't been adopted." he said before bringing up the smart wiener dog to Fuchsia.

"Oh?" Strudel asked, then saw the puppy alone and gasped. "Why aren't you with a family, dear?"

"No one else wanted me..." Fuchsia shrugged.

Strudel frowned to her, but then smiled. "I'll take you... You can call me 'Mama'."

This made Fuchsia smile. "Okay... Mama."

Strudel and Fuchsia shared a heartwarming hug together.

"I knew you two were meant to be, I just knew it." Patch said.

This was a very good moment for all of them.

"Well done, Patch, you've really become a true Pound Puppy." Lucky congratulated Patch.

Patch smiled proudly as he showed off his Pound Puppy/Equestrian medallion as he had really truly become one of a kind instead of just one out of 101.

The End


End file.
